i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, # 

# q t^ ^ ^ ^ # 






! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,! 



# 



THE 



PERCHERON HORSE 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 



CHARLES DU HUYS, 

ATTTHOE OF THE " DICTION AET OP THE PTTEE EACE ;" " TEOTTEES ;" "THE BOOK 
OF THE EACES ;" " THE MEELEEAULL ;" " THE HOE8E-BEEEDEK'S GUIDE ;" ETC. 



ILLXTSTHA-XEID 



^ 









WAS 



NEW YORK: 

ORANGE JUDD & COMPANY, 

245 BROADWAY. 



s^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 

ORANGE JUDD & CO., 

At the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New-York, 



Lovejoy, Son & Co., 

Electrotypers & Stereotypers, 

15 Vandewater Street, N. Y„ 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Production, Rearing, and Improvement of the Percheron Horse 7 

PART FIRST. 
Greatness and Decline of the Percherons. 

Chapter I.— Glance at Perche 11 

Chapter II.— Sketch of the Percheron Race 14 

Chapter III.— Origin of the Percheron 17 

Chapter rV.— Modifications of the Percheron Race 20 

Chapter V.— His first Modification due to contact with the Brittany Race.. 21 

Chapter VI. — Conditions under which they are hred 23 

Chapter "VTI.— Causes of the Degeneracy of the Percheron Horse 2S 

Chapter VHL— Starting Point of this Degeneration 28 

PART SECOND. 

Of the Means of Regenerating the Percheron Horse 32 

Chapter I.— Regeneration of the Percheron Breed 33 

Chapter H.— Regeneration of the Breed through itself or hy Selection. . . .33 

Chapter HI.— Consanguinity „ ^^,.. tJ ^ 38 

Chapter IV.— Ought the gray coat of the Percheron to he inflexibly main- 
tained? 40 

Chapter V. — Preserve pure, and without Mixture the three Types of the 
Percheron Race— the Light Horse, the Draft-Horse, the 

Intermediate Horse 44 

Chapter VI.— Improvement of the Breed by means of Foreign Crossings.. .48 

Chapter Vn.— The Arab Cross 51 

Chapter VTH.— The English Cross 64 

Chapter IX.— Improvement by means of the Stud-book 71 

Recapitulation 75 



PART THIRD. 
Information to Strangers wishing to but Percheron Horses. 



.81 



Chapter I.— Food and Breeding 84 

Chapter n.— Trade. Glance at the most celebrated Breeding Districts. . . 93 

Chapter III.— Speed and Bottom of the Percheron Horse 95 

Chapter IV.— Tests of Speed of the Percheron Horse 97 

Chapter V.— Tests of Endurance of the Percheron Horse 99 



INDEX. 



Arabian, The type horse 51 

Good tempered 60 

Cross imparts endurance 59 

Qualities obtained from 75 

Cross-breeds easy to raise — 61-63 
Disproportionately small legs. ..63 

Labor at three years 61 

Larger than their sires 62-68 

Square trotters 59 

Surest to turn out well 62 

Stallions offer quick and sure 

means of improvement 45 

Breeders 13 

Temptation to sell 8-22-27 

Breeding Centers 92 

Breeding In-and-in fixes character. .18 
Systematic. Opposition of the 

Army 73 

System of 46-62 

Brittany Horse 21-27 

Cattle, Charollaise breed 72 

Cotentin breed 37 

Maine breed 90 

Percheron breed 89 

Colts, Cost of rearing 23 

Food of 23-85 

Sale of at six months old 23-84 

Sold to Beauce farmers 24 

Troubled with strangles 86 

Weaning .85 

Worked at fifteen months 23 

" Cross-bred Horse." .54 

Crossing with the Thoroughbred 55 

Eastern^Blood imported 18 

Stallions at Pin 20 

Brought from the Crusades. .17-18 
English and Danish Stallions at Pin. 20 

English Horses, Spurious 56 

In the Crimea and Italy 54 

Too n ervous for draft 69 

English Thoroughbred 39 

Care required in rearing 61 

Cross successful if used with 

judgment 64 

Discouraging results 68 

Fractious and nervous 61 

Introduced into France 28 

Its Progeny heavy consumers 68 

Possession tends to dissipation. . 9 

The Horse of Fashion 9 

Fairs, Improvement by means of 72 

Forage Plants 13 

Fillies, Treatment of 87 

Horse Association of Perche 31 

Improvement by foreign crossings.. .48 

By Selection 33-37 

By the Arab Cross . . 51 

Means of. 32 

Preparation of land for 49 

Preparation of a breed for 49-51 

In-and-in breeding 38 

Useful in establishing a family or 

breed , 39 

Intelligence of an Arabian 58 

Of "Lapin." ..... 58 

4 



Interbreeding 38 

Land — thorough culture essential 13 

Loads usual for English and French 

horses 69 

Mares, Care of Brood 23 

Mares. Never sell good 34 

" Natural Horse." 54 

Norfolk Stallion, Description 55 

Perche, Department of— Geography, 
Topography, and Agricultural 

character 11 

Effects of soil and climate on 

other animals $8 

Horses exported annually from. 42 
Introduction of foreign mares, 

extensive since 1830 27 

Loss of the best stock 27-29-30 

Percheron Breeders' character 82 

Percheron Horse, Arabian Origin 17 

Characteristics 7-15-22 

Cared for by Women andChildren 8 

Color 40 

Color — Gray the favorite 41 

Color Non-essential 43 

Coming in Fashion 45 

Degeneracy 26-28 

Demand for Export 79 

Difficulty of finding horses free 

from Foreign blood 28-30 

Docility 8 

Efforts to stop the exodus of good 

stock 29 

First among serviceable breeds. .10 

Feat of endurance 99 

Food and Breeding 83 

Freedom from Spavin, etc . . 8 

Heavy Draft Type, how obtained.47 

Height 14 

List of exploits on the turf 97 

Mares, little pastured 12 

Modern modification of the breed20 

" Omnibus Type," how obtained46 

Prices realized by the farmers. .23- 

25-26-29 

" Primitive Type." 52 

Proof of an Ancient breed 19 

Separation of the Sexes 16 

Sold at Chartres 26 

Speed and Bottom 95 

Strength of the type 22 

Three classes . . 15-44 

" Primitive Horse." 53 

Prizes, System of awards . .34 

Given for Size, and for trotting. .31 

Eecapitulation 75 

Sheep, Percheron breed 90 

Soil, Influence of 53 

Stallions,Brittany and others, brought 

into Perche 30 

Not used before four years old. ..36 
Quarter-blood Eng., preferable 

to full-blood 76 

Stud-book 35 

Strangers, Information for 81 

Stnd-book,Iniprovernent by means of 71 



PREFACE 



The little volume which is now presented to the notice of 
the lovers of the horse in America is a translation of the 
work of a distinguished French author, who, holding a high 
position of trust, made this as a report to the Government. 
His views in some respects may be regarded as extreme, 
but on the whole they are characterized by strong common 
sense and are supported by a practical familiarity with all 
the phases of his subject which should give them weight. 

The Percheron horse no doubt stands first among the 
draft breeds of the world. His value has been thorough- 
ly tested in this country, and the fact is established 
beyond a cavil that with careful breeding, and probably an 
occasional renewal by the importation of fresli blood, the 
Percheron maintains his superior characteristics, and im- 
presses them upon his descendants of only one-quarter or 
one-eighth blood to a very marked degree. The value of 
fast trotters, their encouragement by Agricultural Societies, 
and the enormous prices which have been paid for animals 
valuable simply for their speed as trotters, has no doubt 
had a tendency to direct the aims of horse breeders in a 
wrong direction. The result is, from whatever cause it 
comes, that the true horse-of-all-work has been neglected. 
The Percheron, combining as he does a certain attractive- 
5 



VI PKEFACE. 

ness of style, very free action, considerable speed united 
to power, with astonishing strength for his weight, and the 
greatest kindness and docility, seems to offer to American 
horse breeders an exceedingly useful animal, either to be 
maintained distinct, or used for improving our stock of 
both light and heavy draft-horses by crossings. The value 
of this work, however, does not consist in its recommenda- 
tion of this breed, or demonstration of its value in France, 
but its bold discussions of the principles of breeding as ap- 
plied to the improvement of the Percherons, and equally 
applicable to that of other draft breeds, will doubtless 
commend themselves to the careful consideration of 
breeders. 

Interest in the Percherons has increased greatly of late. 
Several notable importations have been made, and excel- 
lent representatives of this noble breed are to be found in 
the Eastern, Western, and Middle States. The engrav- 
ings which embellish this volume are portraits of animals 
owned by Mr. W. T. Walters of Baltimore, Md., through 
whose interest in this subject the Publishers were induced 
to issue this translation of M. Huys work. 



THE PERCHERON HORSE. 



PRODUCTION, REARING, A3VD IMPROVEMENT OF 
THE PERCHERON HORSE. 



.... Facilis descensus Averno\ 
Sed revocare gradum? 

Almost everything that has been written about the 
horse may be reduced pretty much to, — complaining that 
there does not exist a breed which unites, in an elevated 
degree, high moral to physical qualities ; modestly seek- 
ing, and teaching the means of obtaining such a breed. 

It is reasonable that such sentiments should surprise us, 
here in the heart of France, where, for a long time, a race 
of horses has flourished which may be said to fill the re- 
quirements proposed in every way. 

The proof of this statement is easy : a hasty sketch of 
the principal characters of the breed suffices to furnish it. 

To no ordinary strength, to vigor which does not de- 
generate, and to a conformation which does not exclude 
elegance, it joins docility, mildness, patience, honesty, 
great kindness, excellent health, and a hardy, elastic tem- 
perament. Its movements are quick, spirited, and light. 
It exhibits great endurance, both when hard worked, and 
when forced to maintain for a long time any of its natural 
gaits, and it possesses the inestimable quality of moving 
fast with heavy loads. It is particularly valuable for its 
7 



8 THE PEECHEKON" HORSE. 

astonishing precocity, and produces by its work, as a two- 
year-old, more than the cost of its feed and keep. Indeed, it 
loves, and shows a real aptness for labor, which is the lot of 
all. It knows neither the whims of bad humor, nor nervous 
excitement. It bears for man, the companion of its labors, 
an innate confidence, and expresses to him a gentle famili- 
arity, the fruit of an education for many generations in the 
midst of his family. Women and children from whose 
hands it is fed, can approach it without fear. In a word, 
if I may dare speak thus, it is an honorable race. It has 
that fine oriental gray coat, the best adapted of all to 
withstand the burning rays of the sun in the midst of the 
fields — a coat which pleases the eye, and which in the 
darkness of the night allowed the postilion of former times 
to see that he was not alone — that his friend was making 
his way loyally before him. It is exempt, (a cause of 
everlasting jealousy among the breeders of other races,) 
always exempt from the hereditary bony defects of the 
hock, and where it is raised, spavin, jardon, bone spavin, 
periodical inflammation, and other dreaded infirmities, are 
not known even by name. 

This truly typical race would seem a myth did it not exist 
in our midst. But every day we see, every day we handle 
this treasure, — the munificent gift of Providence to this 
favored region, to cause agriculture, that "nursing mother," 
to flourish, and with agriculture, peace and abundance. 

I need not name this breed; every one from this in- 
complete sketch has recognized the fine race of steady and 
laborious horses, bred in the ancient province of Perche, 
(so justly entitled Perche of good horses,) plowing in 
long furrows the soil of Beauce, and thence spreading itself 
over all France, where its qualities render it without a 
rival for all the specialties of rapid draft. 

Hence it is that all our provinces envy us the possession 
of the race, and even foreign countries seek after it with 
an eagerness amounting to a passion. 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 9 

The breeder, — who is ordinarily a farmer, not suffi- 
ciently rich to be beyond temptation, — finds himself with- 
out strength, without resistance in presence of this urgent 
demand. The finest types, not only of the males, but of 
the females also, are disappearing every day. 

This, tending incessantly to deprive Perche of that in 
which it is so superior, is so much more to be dreaded as 
the question of filling up the vacancies and of saving this 
race from a tendency to degeneration and from inevitable 
destruction becomes the necessary corollary of such com- 
mercial operations. 

Entered upon this course, if Perche does not adopt, with- 
out delay, salutary measures, if it does not make a vigor- 
ous efibrt to place itself in a condition, either to resist the 
tendency or to contribute to it in a well-maintained and 
uniform manner, the breed is fated to a complete eclipse at 
the moment even when the future belongs to it. 

Indeed the future does belong to the Percheron horse, if 
he can sustain himself in the first rank of the truly useful 
races until the not far distant day when that era of 
triumph will come. Every thing now seems to incline to 
establish the truth of what, at first, appeared a paradox. 

I am aware that, for the moment, the Percheron has, in 
the class of fancy-horses, an antagonist that seems to de- 
rive formidable strength from the prestige belonging to 
elegance, The English thoroughbred and its congeners are 
in possession of the scepter of fashion and " bonton." 
But this antagonism, more apparent than dangerous, on ac- 
count of the elevated but rather limited spheres in which 
it exists, will last but for a time, and will yield before rea- 
son and the necessities of a difficult situation. 

Our age, factitious to excess, is governed by the de- 
mands and temptations of a luxury which is tending to 
ruin the most solidly established families. It wildly suf- 
fers patrimonies and fortunes to dwindle away under the 
lead of a vain and noisy ostentation, without perceiving 
1* 



10 THE PERCHEROjS" HORSE. 

that already they are decreasing and becoming less every 
day, under the continued action of the laws. A change 
will be brought about, and the effect of an inevitable reac- 
tion will be a return towards sobriety and simplicity. 

Recovering from the intoxication of city luxury, the 
best minds will, let us hope, recover their tone in the quiet 
of the fields, and agriculture will regain its too long forgot- 
ten rights. Tired out by allowing themselves to be eaten 
up by that elegant guest called the fancy-horse, and by the 
army of evil-doing satellites following in his train, men 
will come back to the one which requires but little care, 
and which returns good service, to the one which does not 
object to work, the boon companion of every man desirous 
of following nature's law, which is that of labor. 

The value of the Percheron is more evident than ever. 
It is this, among the serviceable races, which is called to 
the greatest fortune ; for, of all the ordinary breeds, it is 
the nearest to the blooded, in shape and qualities. His 
usefulness causes him to be everywhere in demand. If 
the railroads have driven him from the highway, they 
claim him as an auxiliary in the centers of population and 
at all their termini ; for he is eminently a trotter, remark- 
able for the ability to move at a relatively rapid gait, and 
excelling in the valuable faculty of rapid draft. Since the 
post-coaches have ceased to use these horses, the omnibuses 
of the large cities, and those communicating with the rail- 
roads, require increasing numbers. 

This leads us to seek for the means of improving the 
Percheron race and of maintaining it in its original purity 
and perfection in the land of its birth. But let us first 
see what is the origin of this race, what country gave it 
birth, and by what characters it is to be recognized. 

We have, for this examination, borrowed largely of 
those who have known and "studied Perche intimately, 
and hope to remain truthful in following them step by step. 



PART I. 

GREATNESS AND DECLINE OF THE PERCHERONS. 



CHAPTER I. 

GLANCE AT PERCHE. 

The Department of Perche is too well known to need a 
description here. We will limit ourselves to the remark 
that this region, which has become so celebrated for its 
fine race of horses, represents an ellipse of about 25 leagues 
long by nearly 20 broad. 

This ellipse is bounded on the nortli by Normandy ; 
on the west, also by Normandy, and by Maine; on the 
east, by the portion of Beauce including Chartrain and 
Dunois; on the south, by the Vendomois — three portions 
of the ancient Orleanais. 

At the present time, enclosed in the center of the four 
departments, Orne, Eure and Loir, Loir and Cher, and 
Sarthe, the territory of Perche comprises the following 
divisions : 

1st. — The district of Mortagne (department of Orne) ; 

2nd. — The district of Nogent-le-Rotrou, and a portion 
of those of Chartres, Dreux, and Chateaudun (department 
of Eure and Loir) ; 

3rd. — All the western side of the district of Vend.6me 
(department of Loir and Cher) • 
11 



12 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

4th. — The eastern portion of the districts of Mamers 
and Saint Calais (department of Sarthe). 

It is the summit region of the middle portion of the 
vast plateau extending between the sea and the basins 
of the Loire and the Seine. It is here that the rivers 
Sarthe, Huisne, Eure, Loire, Iton, Hoene, Brave, Avre, 
Commanche, and Percheron Orne, take their source, spring- 
ing up from the same plateau and crossing it on their way 
to the Channel and the ocean. 

The country is, in general, uneven and hilly, cut up in 
every direction by small valleys watered by springs or 
small brooks flowing into the rivers above named. All 
these valleys, no matter of what extent, are natural 
meadows, and the most of them rich and fertile. But 
drainage could here be usefully applied everywhere, to rid 
them of their surplus humidity, and to purge them of their 
too abundant aquatic plants. The finest valley is that 
watered by the Huisne, which is second to none in Fiance 
for length, extent, richness, and beauty of sites. Here are 
situated N"ogent-le-Rotrou, Conde, Regmalard, Boissy, 
Corbon, Mauves, Pin-la-Garenne, Reveillon, etc., etc., — all 
centers renowned for the beauty of their horses. 

The land is generally clayey, lying upon a calcareous 
subsoil of the secondary formation. Some portions are 
silicious, the high and hilly points always so. 

The Percheron country contains rather few meadows, 
in proportion to the total surface of the soil, and to this 
circumstance, probably, is due the superiority of its horses. 
Here the rearing takes place in the stable and the brood- 
mare is found under the hand of the breeder. The idea of 
making use of her comes naturally to his mind. He works 
and feeds her well. All the secret of his breeding lies in 
these few words. 

Here, for many years, agriculture has flourished ; arti- 
ficial meadows are everywhere cultivated with success, 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 13 

and are necessary to produce the enormous quantity of 
fodder consumed by the number of horses raised. 

Among the plants for green and dry forage, clover first 
and then fenugreek are the favorites of the Percheron 
farmer. He uses plaster and marl with care, and would 
tell you, should the opportunity offer, that it is through 
system and superior cultivation that Perche lias been able 
hitherto to meet the large demands made upon her from 
the commencement of the present century, particularly for 
the last fifty years. He is, moreover, laborious and per- 
severing. Disregarding the industrial arts, the glory of 
other districts, his true vocation, his favorite occupation, is 
cultivating the ground and raising horses, which he has 
practised with zeal from the most remote period. In fact 
cannot this be inferred, even from the example of his early 
lords ? The Counts of Perche, those old Rotrous, triple 
knights, had they not adopted as an emblem of their nobility 
the stamp of their horses' feet ? . . . Not content with a 
single chevron, they placed three upon their standards, to 
signify both the superiority of their horses, and their in- 
finite number. For in symbolical language (and none is 
more so than that of heraldry,) the number three implies 
infinity ; and the oval form of the eastern courser's foot, to 
which the chevron is distinctly traced, was used in early 
times as a sign of chivalry, replacing the ancient ring of 
Rome. Hence comes, as a distinctive mark of nobility, the 
large number of coats of arms with chevrons, among those 
of the knights. The simple chevron was the desig- 
nation of the noble, and the particular marks which often 
accompanied the chevron served to recall some exploit, 
some distinguished feat of arms, the nature of the tastes, 
or the possessions of the warrior who bore this blazon. 

Perche is very much cut up : the farms generally small ; 
the fields, likewise small and mostly enclosed by hedges. 
The temper of the Percheron breeder is invariably mild. 
He knows all the importance of attention to the race which 



14 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

he rears, and nevertheless, it must be confessed, that with 
the exception of the mildness with which he treats it, he 
has done next to nothing to ameliorate it or preserve it in 
its beauty. Nature, time, and the climate, have done all. 

Perche has a climate eminently favorable to horse- 
breeding. Under its influence, the water is tonic and the 
food nutritious, the air is pure, bracing, and drier than 
that of Normandy. The sea is farther off, and its in- 
fluence, in consequence, is less felt. 

However, these can be but general attributes, for the 
country varies in aspect according to the district. The 
portion near Normandy, which is watered by the Sarthe, is 
much the same as that province. The grasses are, however, 
sparser, and especially do not have that extreme sweet- 
ness and great tonic quality which distinguish those of the 
environs of Courtomer and Merlerault, situated only a few 
leagues from the limits of Perche. 

On the side of Beauce, there are vast plains sometimes 
undulating, and having much similarity to that province. 

On the Maine side, the country gradually assumes the 
characteristics of aspect and cultivation peculiar to it, so 
that the transition between these two provinces is not an 
abrupt change, but they blend like the tones of a picture. 
Upon some points woods, ponds in the north-east, forage 
and grain upon the remainder, are the chief features, and 
are the sources of the revenues of the country. 



CHAPTER II. 

SKETCH OF THE PERCHERON RACE. 

The height of the Percheron horse is generally 14 3 1 4 to 16 
hands ; he is of a sanguine temperament, mixed in variable 
proportions with the musculo-lymphatic ; his color is al- 



THE PERCHEEON HOESE. 15 

most always gray, and is, among the characteristic features, 
that which first strikes the eye. 

According to their predominence, these temperaments 
constitute varieties which may be thus classed: 

1st. — The light Percheron, in which the sanguine tem- 
perament predominates ; 

2nd. — The draft Percheron, in which the lymphatic 
temperament is the most fully developed ; 

Zrd. — The type intermediary between these two, par- 
taking of the one by its lightness, and of the other by its 
muscular force. 

The latter is the most numerous, but it has much de- 
generated of late years ; and there is a tendency to its 
disappearance since the post-coach service, which formed 
it, has gradually given way to other means of conveyance. 
It has style, although the head is rather large and long ; 
nostrils well open and well dilated ; eye large and ex- 
pressive ; forehead broad; ear fine; neck rather short, 
but well filled out; whithers high; shoulder pretty long 
and sloping ; breast rather flat, but high and deep ; a 
well-rounded body ; back rather long ; the croup hori- 
zontal and muscular; tail attached high ; short and strong 
joints, and the tendon generally weak; a foot always 
excellent, although rather flat in the low countries and 
natural meadows ; a gray coat ; fine skin ; silky and abun- 
dant mane. Such are the most general characteristics 
of the old Percheron race. These are the points which 
are still noticed upon what remain of some old horses, 
preserved from the transformation which commenced long 
ago ; for at the present moment everything is much 
changed. Since the time of the foreign crossings, the foot 
has become flatter, the head overcharged, the tendon still 
weaker, the back longer, the shoulder has lost its direction, 
and the croup has become shorter. The race has changed 
suddenly to fill new wants which have unexpectedly 
sprung up. 



16 THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 

Of course these different characters are modified by the 
varieties upon which they are noticed, but the "ensemble" 
presents a striking similarity. 

The light Percheron, suited to harness, is found par- 
ticularly in the Norman portion, in the district of Mor- 
tagne, near Courtomer, Moulin s-la-Marche, Aigle, Mesle- 
sur-Sarthe, and especially in the parishes of Mesniere, Bures, 
and Champeaux-sur-Sartbe. This is easily accounted for, as 
here is the best blood of France, near the region where 
has been found the best Norman type. Here the soil, 
temperature, and pasturage, are pretty near the same. 

In going from Nogent-le-Rotrou to Montdoubleau, and 
following the limits of Perch e-Manceau, by Saint-Calais, 
Vilvaye, Ferte-Bernard, Saint-Corme and Mamers, we 
travel over the birth-place of the heavy draft-horse. Here 
we meet with the heavy brood-mares. 

In -the center of Perche, at Mauves, Regmalard, Lougny, 
Corbon, Courgeon, Reveillon, Villiers, and Saint-Langis, 
nothing is bred ; the farmer brings up the horse colts of 
Eperrais, Pin-la-Garenne, Coulimer, Saint-Quentin, Bure, 
Pervercheres and the breeding parishes of the district of 
Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Montdoubleau and Courtalin. 

Horses of different sexes and ages are never mingled in 
Perche; they are there separated with care. But it is not 
exactly the same in respect to kinds. 

The post-coach and the heavy-draft horse are there to 
be met with upon the same ground. The post-coach horse 
is, to be sure, bred a little everywhere ; his temperament 
and the conditions in which he is placed, prepare him 
for this specialty. 

It is, as we see, at the two extremities of the ellipse 
(especially where the pasture grounds are), that the mares 
are found. In the center, at Mauves, Regmalard, Lougny, 
etc., etc., the inhabitants turn their attention to bringing 
up the colts. 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. IT 

CHAPTER in. 

ORIGIN OF THE PERCHERON. 

What, now, is the origin of the Percheron ? Some at- 
tribute to him an Arabian ancestry ; others, less explicit 
and without positively assigning to him so noble an origin, 
hold him to be strongly impregnated with Arabian blood. 
M. Eugene Perrault, one of the most extensive and skillful 
dealers in fancy horses in all Europe, has frequently re- 
marked to me that of all the various races of horses none 
were so interesting to him as the admirable Percheron, 
and that, judging from his appearance and qualities, he 
was satisfied he was a genuine Arab, modified in form by 
the climate and the rude services to which he had for 
ages been subjected. 

We cannot, however, find in history the written positive 
proof that the Percheron is an Arab, but we believe it easy, 
by fair historical deduction, to prove what he is in fact. 

It is well known that after the defeat of the famous 
Saracen chief Abderame by Charles Mart el, on the plains 
of Vouille, the magnificent cavalry of the foe fell into the 
hands of the victors, since more than 300,000 infidels were 
killed on that day, and the horses which they rode were, 
like themselves, from the East. Upon a division of the 
spoil a large number of these were assigned to the men 
of La Perche, of Orleanais, and Normandy, who com- 
posed the bulk of the French forces, and they must 
necessarily have left in their progeny indelible traces of 
their blood. 

La Perche, like all Christian countries, furnished, as is 
well known, her contingent of fighting men to the cru- 
sades, and the chronicles cite several Counts of Bellesmer, 
Mortagne, and Nogent, barons and gentlemen of that 
province, who, with many of their vassals, made pilgrim- 
ages to the Holy Land. 



18 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

The Abbe Faet, in a letter addressed to the Congress 
of Mortagne, July 16, 1843, and in his great work upon 
La Perche, cites in this connection a lord of Montdou- 
bleau, Geftroy IV., and Rotrou, Count of La Perche, as 
having brought back from Palestine several stallions, 
which were put to mares, and the progeny most carefully 
preserved. The small number of the sires, their incom- 
parable beauty, and manifest superiority, must have led to 
the in-and-in breeding so much deprecated by most 
breeders ; but the qualities of the sires became indelibly 
fixed upon their progeny. 

The lord of Montdoubleau was, it is said, the most 
zealous of the advocates and breeders of the new blood, 
and, being the most zealous, was the most successful ; hence 
it is that the Montdoubleau stock is to this day the best in 
Perche. The Count Roger, of Bellesmer, imported both 
Arabian and Spanish horses, as did Goroze, the lord of 
Saint Cerney, Courville, and Course roult ; these are histor- 
ical facts which have their importance. Like chronicles, 
it is true, exist for other provinces — for Limousin, for Na- 
varre, for Auvergne (the land of noble horses), also for 
Brittany and Maine ; but in the latter not the least sign of 
Eastern blood is perceptible. The fact is, the crusaders 
from all the French provinces naturally brought back with 
them more or less of the Eastern blood, which they had 
learned to appreciate on the plains of Palestine — but the 
truth is, it has not been preserved elsewhere ; and that we 
in La Perche, after so many centuries, should be so for- 
tunate as to be able to show the traces of it, should stimu- 
late us to its careful preservation. 

From the time of the Roman domination, the horse 
in his oriental forms was not only valued by the Gauls, 
but was particularly prized in Perche. In 1861 a subter- 
ranean vault was discovered in the middle of a field, near 
Jargeau (Loiret), upon the borders of Perche. It contain- 
ed a statue of Bacchus, surrounded by bacchanals, with 



THE PEECHEEOX HOESE. 19 

which were found a horse, a stag, a boar, some fish, a grape 
vine, and other native products of the country ; but the 
horse was indubitably of the Arab form, which goes to 
prove, either that at that remote period there were 
Arabians in the country, or that the native local race from 
which the portrait was taken resembled the Arabian. 

These historical data, these inductions, incomplete as 
they may be, lead to the belief that for antiquity the 
Percheron yields to no other of our French races, and that 
the soil which has nourished and preserved it, must be 
one of the best in France for horse breeding. 

Under the feudal rule and inhabited by tenants ever at 
war, Perche must always have been an equestrian country, 
and the horse must have been there in every age the 
companion of man. He must have been really a first 
class necessity. In those times of continued war and 
hostile surprises, what property was more movable and so 
easily taken to a place of safety? How glorious the pos- 
session of such noble coursers, and like the Rotrous, to 
own more than could be counted, as was proudly shown 
by the heraldic chevrons upon their broad banners, dis- 
played from the towers of Mortagne and Nogent ! 

But had the Percheron then, as a race, the character- 
istics it now possesses ? This is not probable ; it must have 
been lighter, but still possessing within itself the charac- 
ter which it now presents. The essential point is to prove 
that there was, at that period, a native race ; and if the ex- 
traordinary life formerly led there — if the aspect of the 
country, which must have been always fertile — if the 
historical inductions do not prove it — the universal tradi- 
tion of the whole country should not leave us in any 
doubt in respect to the fact. 

Let us, then, take no account of the silence of historians. 
This silence is no proof of the non-existence of the Per- 
cheron. Most of these writers were gentlemen of the 



20 THE PERCHEEON HOESE. 

equestrian order ; they prized the saddle-horse, while they 
ignored the equally useful breeds of all work. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MODIFICATIONS OF THE PERCHERON RACE. 

The Percheron race comes from the Arab ; but it is use- 
ful to know the causes which have separated it from the 
primitive type. How has it been modified ? How has it 
lost the Arabian character, in which it must have been at 
first clothed ? A large number of the French races have 
been even more profoundly modified, and have become 
abject, miserable, puny, and misshapen. All equine races 
have been changed by the effects of climate, by the ex- 
tinction of the feudal system, and by the inauguration of 
peaceful habits which have made an agricultural and 
draft-horse of the horse primitively used for the saddle 
and for war. The Percherons must have been especially 
modified by contact with the breed of Brittany, where 
their striking characteristics are now met with in a large 
number of individuals. 

However, it has been vigorously attempted to offset the 
intrusion of the heavy horse by the continued use of the 
Arabian horse. Indeed, we see, towards 1760, under the 
administration of the Marquis of Brigges, manager of the 
stud-stables of Pin, all the large number of fine Arabian, 
Barb, and eastern stallions, that this establishment owned, 
were put at the disposition of the Count of Mallart for 
use at his mare-stables of Coesme, near Bellesme. The 
arrival of the Danish and English stallions at the stud- 
stables of Pin put an unfortunate end to the influence 
of the Arab horse in Perche, and it will now be many a 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 21 

long year before the eastern blood will be seen as before. 
It is only towards 1820, still at the same chateau of 
Coesme, with the grandsons of those old admirers of the 
Arabians, that we find again two Arab horses from the 
stud-stables of Pin, Godolphin and Gallipoli. These two 
valuable stock-getters, both gray, again gave tone and ar- 
dor to the Percheron race, and transformed definitely in- 
to gray horses the stock of the entire country, which had, 
it was said, become less uniform, and of all colors. 

The Brittany horses have been strongly attracted to- 
wards Perche by the immense outlet offered' by the public 
service, since the increase of the roads, to the Percherons. 
Mixtures between the two races must have been frequent. 
And when a good Brittany horse was there met with, he 
must have been made use of, and the old native type has 
gradually tended to disappear, and its traces become more 
and more rare. This mixture of Percheron and Brittany 
blood, too well marked to be questioned, arises from several 
causes, which we will take up successively in review. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FIRST MODIFICATION, DUE TO CONTACT WITH THE 
BRITTANY RACE. 

Perche is bounded, in its whole length, by the immense 
plains of Beauce. On account of this position, it was al- 
ways traversed by the post-coaches for Paris, and by 
all the supplies that came from the West. 

Being the intermediate point between the principal 
home of the Brittany draft-horse and the immense markets 
which Beauce and Paris offered, its territory was the 
necessary stopping-place of everything that came from 



22 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

the West. It has been for many years the rendezvous of 
the draft races of the whole West. 

Now, see in what an exceptional position this country 
is placed. First and foremost, I do not hesitate to say 
that there exists no French race which could have multi- 
plied and preserved its original type under such unhappy 
influences. We can but deplore the slight care taken in 
preserving it pure and intact, and the want of judgment 
in the delicate operation of crossing. 

There has been no uniform and logical plan for improv- 
ing as well as increasing it. To make the greatest possible 
profit out of this hen with the golden eggs has been the 
only aim. 

When the post-coaches, wagon transportation, and the 
public conveyances were organized and generalized ; when 
every thing requiring the use of the horse had undergone 
excessive development ; when the improvements of our 
roads, the multiplicity of business transactions, and the 
enormous internal traffic, required increased and rapid 
locomotion, all eyes were turned towards Perche, and it 
became necessary for her to satisfy the increased demand. 

Let us see in what condition was the Perch eron breeder 
to satisfy all these demands. As for race, he possessed the 
best. Strong, yet quick, it was that, of all others, which 
contained the most blood. It owed this to the soil and 
climate. It was the best to feed, the easiest to raise, and 
the most favorably situated to be cheaply multiplied. And 
with all this, it had at its door the best of known markets. 

Wagons, diligences, and post-coaches, required horses 
such as the Percheron cultivator loved to breed for himself. 
Hence that sympathetic understanding which developed 
itself more and more between the Percheron producer 
and the consumer occupied in public transportation. And 
the anxiety to meet the demand was one of the most active 
causes of degeneration and of the drafts made upon this 
and the neighboring breeds. 



THE PERCHERON HORSE. 23 

CHAPTER VI 

CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY ARE BRED. 

We know how the sexes are divided in Perche ; one 
section of the province produces, while another raises 
what the other has produced. No matter what may be 
the class to which she belongs, light or heavy, or partak- 
ing of both, the mare is expected to breed every year. If 
barren, she is sold, and this fault continuing, she passes 
into public use. During her gestation she works constant- 
ly. A few days of rest, before and after foaling, is the 
only time lost. The remainder of the time her work pays 
abundantly for her keep and the interest on her cost. 

At the age of five or six months, the colt is abruptly 
weaned and sold. Its price varies from five to six hundred 
francs — sometimes more, but this is the exception — and so 
far it has cost nothing. 

Led into the interior upon the fertile meadows of 
Mauves, Pin, Regmalard, Corbon, Lougny, Reveillon, 
Courgeron, Saint-Langis, Villiers, Courgeoust, etc., etc., it 
remains one year unproductive. In winter it is fed upon 
hay, in the stable, and during the fine season turned into 
the fields to graze. To sum up, it is rather poorly nour- 
ished on bran, grass, and hay. 

The reason is, it is as yet unproductive to its master, and 
it feels the effects. Wait a little ; its hardest time has gone 
by, and work will soon soften its lot. It reaches, in this man- 
ner, the age of 15 or 18 months. What has it cost for keep- 
ing ? Very little. Estimate, about 80 or 100 francs. At this 
age it is put to work. Naturally docile and in the hands 
of a man always patient and mild, its training is generally 
easy. Assigned to farm labor, it plows or draws a wagon. 
Harnessed with four or five colts of its own age, together 
they pull what would be an easy load for two good horses. 



24 THE PERCHEEON HOESE. 

Put before two oxen, or joined to three of its companions, 
it plows and is never overworked. 

Now, it is better fed, and taken a great deal better care 
of. Its " morale" improves, and its master seems to delight 
in contemplating the progress and the development of its 
qualities. Thus, in traveling through Perche, one involun- 
tarily stops in the midst of the fields to see it work, 
never tired of admiring the vigor it displays, and the 
gentleness with which it is treated. 

The bait is there. At the age of three the Beauce farmer 
buys it to work his soft and light soil. For him, it must 
be preserved intact, its development uninjured, nay en- 
couraged. 

Master, servants, large and small, all deeply imbued 
with the love of the horse, unite in this work with ad- 
mirable skill. 

It has thus worked during one year, abundantly fed, 
but receiving little or no grain. Doing enough light 
work to pay for its keep, the master has received, besides 
its manure, a heavy interest on the cost, as we will pres- 
ently see. 

This premature work, which would have been injurious 
under a careless management, is, on the contrary, beneficial 
when it is in the hands of a good master. This is so much 
the general case, that the contrary is the exception. The 
animal grows and becomes better developed in size and 
strength. 

Now, as we before observed, the Beauce farmer comes 
to buy. He lives in a country of proverbial richness. 
The work there is abundant, but the nature of the soil ren- 
ders it extremely easy. The fields, very much divided, 
and distant one from another, make a rapid gait indis- 
pensable. 

In Beauce, the horse cannot be replaced as a beast of 
burden ; no matter how dear his keeping, his use is indis- 
pensable; the ox cannot be his competitor. But it is a 



THE PERCHEEON HOESE. 25 

fact of the greatest importance to state, that it is to the 
ox that the Perch eron horse owes a part of his celebrity. 

As is well knowm, Beauce is the exceptional country for 
cereals ; the horse and sheep are pretty much the only 
animals which there produce a manure required by such 
husbandry. Add to this the breadth of land under tillage, 
and the extreme fertility of the soil, and the large number 
of horses kept by the Beauce farmer will be accounted for. 

At three years old, the Percheron dealer sells his horse 
for 900 or 1,000 francs, and sometimes more, according to 
his merit. But he does this only in order to buy other 
colts; and the profit has been, in fact, sufficiently large to 
warrant him in this. He has had against him only the 
chances of mortality. These are small ; the race is tough 
and hardy. Accidents are more to be dreaded, and these 
sometimes occur. Living in the open air, in the company 
of other animals, the young colt is a little exposed to the 
influences of chance. But the fields are enclosed, the 
master's eye is upon it, and, to sum up all, the large profit 
covers every thing. 

Reaching Beauce at three years old, he is subjected to 
hard work. The work is easy enough, but there is 
much of it. He must be quick, the breadth of land is 
very extensive, and the work must be done. Sowing and 
harvesting — these two words sum up the Beauceron agri- 
culture. Otherwise expressed — plowing and hauling. As 
regards the horse, all must be done promptly and quickly. 

But if he be hard worked, on the other hand, nothing is 
denied him. He eats as much grain and hay as he pleases. 
What difference does this make to the farmer ? Do not 
his labor and his manure pay for his nourishment ? And, 
moreover, how act otherwise ? As we have seen, nothing 
can supply his place. Necessity has no law. 

He lives in this way a year, with abundant food. Some- 
times he succumbs ; the mortality is quite large in this 
region. But the stock which remains after such a training 
2 



26 THE PERCHEKO]* HORSE* 

offers many guaranties to the the dealer who buys it 
to transfer, if they suit, to the express and omnibus com- 
panies ; or if they belong to the draft race, to the con- 
tractors, wagoners, and builders, of Paris. At five, he is 
bought by the horse-dealer at the annual horse fair on St. 
Andrew's Day in the town of Chartres. There he is 
delivered, the farmer leading his horse upon the ground. 
The prices vary from 1,000 to 1,400 francs. The profit is 
small, sometimes nothing, the greatest gain being his 
work, which cannot be dispensed with. The feeble have 
perished ; the survivors owe their lives only to their robust 
constitutions. 

Before dedication to his final use, he has thus passed 
through four hands; all these have shared the risks of 
his rearing. The most serious have been for the last 
owner; but he was also the wealthiest, and to him also 
hafe he been the most useful. 

Thus, w r e see, the foal costs almost nothing, and his work 
pays for his keep. Perfectly well fed, and exercised from 
his tenderest age, the Percheron has always been the first 
draft-horse in the world, and he would have constantly 
improved, if his admirable qualities themselves had not led 
to his degeneration. 



CHAPTER VII. 

CAUSES OF THE DEGENERACY OF THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

The breeding of the Percheron horse has been so much 
the more stimulated, in consequence of his situation, his 
well-known qualities, and the favorable economical cir- 
cumstances in which he is placed. 

Was not everything in his favor ? Sure and increasing 
sales and great facility in raising ? 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 27 

In a word, Perche is not large ; the number of horses 
that it can produce is limited, and not being able to answer 
all the demands made upon it, competition stepped in. 

At first, the finest types, the males especially, were sold. 
Then, little by little, the traffic increasing, the finest fe- 
males, in their turn, commenced to appear upon the market. 

The interior of France and foreign countries, Prussia 
especially, were anxious to possess them, the latter country, 
in order to form a race of draft-horses, which it absolutely 
needed, in consequence its own becoming too light. 

It is the only race which has been accused of no faults, 
— simply because it has satisfied a real want and has been 
able to satisfy it fully. 

The sale of colts becoming greater and greater, and all 
the farmers being interested in buying them to raise, Brit- 
tany sent hers upon the markets. They made their ap- 
pearance in Perche and in the fairs of Mortagne, Courtal- 
in, etc., etc., taking their place there alongside the colts of 
the country. 

The breeding-mares being sought after, and in conse- 
quence sold, it became necessary to replace them. Their 
offspring sold too well not to think of increasing their 
number. Hence the introduction, at first, of a large 
number of Brittany mares, and afterwards of mares from 
Caux, Picardy, etc., etc., approaching nearest, both as to 
height and coat, to the race of the country. 

If there had been among them only the Brittany mares, 
I would but half complain : these are well bred ; and 
moreover, has not Perche contributed to the improvement 
of the Brittany race by sending into their country such 
famous stallions as Pomme, Bijou, and Tancrede f But the 
mares from Picardy, from Caux and from Boulogne — the 
scrofulous races of the North ! What can be said for them ? 

This introduction is not of yesterday ; it is already of 
long date. But it may be boldly advanced that it is only 
since 1830 that it has been effected upon a very large scale. 



28 THE PEKCHERON HOESE. 

1830 was the era of the systematic infusion of the Eng- 
lish pure-blood into our French half-blood races. Having 
become, by this fact, less fit for service, they commenced 
to lose their credit in the eyes of thinking men. The rich 
ran after the English, while others wanted the German 
horse, and this made the latter's fortune. The majority 
addressed themselves to Perche, and thus obliged her to 
multiply anew a stock already become insufficient. 

In Upper Perche, that is to say, towards the Norman 
part, in the district of Mortagne, the introduction, (we 
are ignorant of its cause, — perhaps from the presence of 
some good stallions,) was not so great; but it did, never- 
theless, take place, and its traces are discovered at every 
step. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to 
find there at the present moment, a Percheron completely 
free from mixture of foreign blood. 



CHAPTER VHI. 

STARTING POINT OF THIS DEGENERATION. 

As long as the post-coaches were flourishing and the 
diligences crossing France in every direction, it was espe- 
cially a horse fit for their uses that Perche devoted itself 
to produce. But since these modes of transportation have 
been modified, the race, with them, has undergone a com- 
plete transformation. As this country only possessed, as 
an outlet for the light part of its stock, the expresses, 
omnibuses, and post-office services in the interior of Paris, 
and later the private post teams, etc., etc., which only em- 
ploy quick-gaited horses, it became necessary to think of 
rendering the race heavier, in order to replace the monop- 
oly of the mail stages and diligences by another monop- 



THE PEECHERON HOUSE. 29 

oly. Had it not before it the necessity of satisfying the 
commercial, wants — that is to say, the express cartage, 
the heavy work of the contractors and builders of Paris, 
and in the provinces, the services of the large towns, and 
the express and other business connected with all rail- 
roads ? The fear of losing this important market offered 
to his qualities of speed, strength, and honesty, tempted 
the breeder to infuse too suddenly the blood of the 
heavy draft-horse. He might have accomplished this 
more slowly and gradually, by means of a rational 
coupling with the heaviest bodied native types ; but our 
age, eager to enjoy, did not leave him the time. To an- 
swer to these new wants, Perche opened wide its doors to 
all the heavy mares that it could meet with. Many came 
from Brittany, others from Picardy and Caux, and some 
from Boulogne. During this time the ancient stallion of 
the country, eagerly sought after by all those who wished 
to create fine draft studs, passed into the interior and even 
into foreign countries. 

The success of the Percheron race was very great. 
All the departments wished to acclimate it. The prices 
of these stallions had increased so rapidly in a few years, 
that they had tripled and quadrupled. Accordingly, 
the possessors sold them. The administrative author- 
ities, aided by the elite of the proprietors, endeavored, 
however, to hinder this emigration. They formed a stud- 
stable at Bonneval ; but this establishment was not com- 
posed of types that were homogeneous and adapted to as- 
sure a regular and continuous improvement. Prizes were 
given at Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Illiers, and Ven- 
dome. But an end was arrived at contrary to what was 
desired. The prizes served as signs to the dealers. Perche 
was visited to buy first-class horses. What surer guaranty 
than the prize? And then, how could the breeders 
resist the prices of 3,000 and 4,000 francs, and even more, 
offered the proprietor of a stallion ? 



30 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

It will be objected that these stallions, before disappear- 
ing, had already served ; I know this. But bow served ? 
They had served at two or three years, before their com- 
plete development, and it was at the age at which they 
would have been most useful, that they were withdrawn 
from their district, and the same thing was true with the 
best mares. 

Several departments carried off great numbers; they 
were sent everywhere. A great many proprietors bought 
them. Thus disappeared, gradually, the flower of the 
breeding-mares. The race was cut off in its prime. Perche 
stretched its sails to the winds of the present without 
thinking of the future ! 

Stallions of all kinds now came forward ; stallions from 
Brittany, Picardy, Caux, and Boulogne. The heaviest were 
preferred. The change was so rapid, that, to-day, in many 
places, there does not remain the slightest trace of genu- 
ine Percheron blood. It is a mixture which betrays it- 
self to the eye by coarse forms, foreign to the original 
type, and in the morale by a sensible loss of that generous 
spirit, and of that indescribable something that we so 
much admired. Perche would formerly have disowned 
stock lacking the eastern character; still, their presence 
is not without instruction. It gives the measure of the 
great climatic qualities of this province, and proves what 
it could have done with well-chosen animals. 

Such is its force of assimilation, that after nourishing 
some generations upon its soil, it is able to reform them, 
and impart that sacred fire, and that build, which can only 
come from the nourishment of its hills. 

The department authorities, unwearied by the slight 
success of their first attempts, renew their efforts, from 
year to year, to oppose the progress of this degeneration, 
and endeavor to combat it by the strongest measures. 

The department of Eure and Loir, undeterred by the 
costly and disastrous failure of the Bonne val breeding 



THE PERCHERON HORSE. 31 

stud, continues still its patriotic work, and keeps up its en- 
couragements, in the form of prizes to stallions and brood- 
mares — encouragements to which Orne and Loir, and Cher, 
appropriate annually considerable sums. 

There was formed, some years ago, at Chateaudun, with 
the most disinterested and patriotic design, a powerful as- 
sociation of proprietors, known under the name of " The 
Horse Association of Perche" having for its mission the 
furnishing of good stallions to the farmers. 

Trotting matches at Illiers, Court alain, Vendome, Mont- 
doubleau, and Mortagne, have been established ; but, with 
all this, a success worthy of such efforts has not yet been 
obtained, on account of a lack of uniformity in the move- 
ment. 

Competition at the fairs gives but too often the specta- 
cle of size being systematically encouraged; while trot- 
ting, in consequence of the speed required, leads to the 
employment of English cross-breds. Would this oper- 
ation were well directed ! But even then, would this 
English blood be used in right proportions ? I doubt it. 
When it is used, it is used too much ; for, this blood, if it 
be not employed with extreme reserve, an extreme parsi- 
mony, if I may so speak, results in injuring the honest 
traits and the valuable quality of early maturity ; it 
destroys, in fact, that precocity of the breed, which enables 
it at an early age to pay for its feed by its labor. The 
breeders are almost invariably small farmers, and they 
cannot afford to lose the time necessary to mature fancy 
horses ; they must have quick sales and quick returns. 



PART II. 

OF THE MEANS OF REGENERATING TEE PERCHE- 
RON HORSE. 



Perche, in order to retain its best customers, and not 
drop to a level with the common herd of horse-breeders, 
must at once have recourse to systematic means of im- 
provement. Her breeders have shown a deplorable alacrity 
in the downward course, which has brought upon them 
the depreciation in the value of their stock, of which they 
begin to perceive the effects. 

" Facilis descensus Averno ; 

Sed rev oca re gradum, 

Hoc opus, hie labor est !" 

Unanimity of will and unity of means are both neces- 
sary to accomplish the ascent, and regain the position 
which the breed has lost. Two measures present them- 
selves as each essential in accomplishing this result. The 
first step is to restore the disturbed equilibrium by a well- 
planned and uninterrupted series of crosses, effected with- 
in the breed. This would arrest the evil. The second 
step should be, subsequently, to breed up by improving 
crosses, practised with a wise and circumspect delibera- 
tion. This would be making progress. 

At the very outset, and continued parallel with this 
course of breeding, a Stud-book should be instituted, in 
order that all thus subjected to systematic improvement 
should be brought together, and thus initiate a general 
improvement of the breed. The development of these 
ideas will furnish matter for the following chapters. 
32 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 33 

CHAPTER I. 

REGENERATION OF THE PERCHERON BREED. 

There are two ways of crossing applicable to any breed, 
both of which have had their earnest partisans. So much 
clamor has been made about them, I think, only because 
they have been simultaneously used and often mingled, and 
the results have been deranged by their use. This might 
have been avoided by commencing with the simplest and 
continuing with the best. 

The first may be called the renewal of a breed within 
itself, or interbreeding ; the second, improving by foreign 
blood. We will pass them rapidly in review, trying to 
reach in the results the solid basis of truth. 



CHAPTER H. 

REGENERATION OF THE BREED THROUGH ITSELF, OR 
BY SELECTION. 

The first manner, also called selection, consists in mak- 
ing, among the race itself, a rational, judicious choice of 
the most perfect types ; those which are as free as possible 
from the most prominent defects of the breed ; those 
which best recall the primitive type, if it possess the 
superior qualities which it is required to reproduce ; those 
which, healthy and vigorous, seem to have among them- 
selves the most affinity. This choice ought to be severe 
and rigorous, nor should we be discouraged by the small 
number of the elect. 
2* 



34 ^ THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

From the issue of this first selection, make a similar 
choice, and with them and their progeny march persevering- 
ly in the same way, without ever looking to the right or to 
the left — that is to say, without ever listening to advice 
which would modify the work commenced, or to praises 
which might induce the desire for too rapid results. To 
proceed too fast is perhaps a still greater error than to 
stop on the way, inasmuch as it often renders a retro- 
grade movement obligatory and reduces to nothing the 
results of several years of success. 

It is indispensable that the selections from which a 
good progeny is desired should be completely grown — that 
is to say, the horses should be at least four years past, 
and the mares fully three years old. 

Sell, without remorse, to the trade the least successful 
types, and most carefully keep the good. The horses, after 
serving some campaigns in their adult age, can be sold 
without inconvenience; a few well-proved types are suf- 
ficient for a district. But never part with the mares when 
they are remarkable for their conformation, temper, 
aptitude to work, and for their qualities as breeders. 

Thus, in order to keep the breeders clear of tempta- 
tions which are always dangerous, and as a good means of 
guidance, prizes become a question of life or death for the 
future of the race. It is, in fact, by means of prizes and 
rewards, liberally distributed for the class of mares of 
three to ten years inclusively, that they can be kept in the 
region. It is by awarding the prize at three years, after 
they have been covered, in paying at first but one-half 
of the prize and the remainder only after they have foaled 
and have been again covered, that they can be virtually 
controlled. After ten years, as they no longer meet with 
either a good or profitable sale, special encouragement 
may cease. Moreover, the breeder who during eight years 
has received in prizes a sum often superior to the money 
value of his mare, and recognizing that he possesses in her 



THE PEKCHEEON HOUSE. 35 

a brood-mare of merit, will no longer commit the folly of 
parting with her for a price which would be ridiculous. 

There is such extreme delicacy in the manner of distribut- 
ing these prizes, that I scarcely dare refer to it. 

The members of the council-board, who have the ap- 
propriation for the prizes, should have naturally and right- 
fully the honor of awarding them. I would then wish, 
that in each district (what I am about to say excludes the 
public fairs, in which a jury, numerous, and. consequently 
never unanimous in opinion, opposes the execution of a 
uniform idea), the council-board and the council of the 
district, charged at the same time with the establishment 
of the Stud-book, of which I will speak in a separate 
chapter, should be willing to accept this mission, which they 
would perform with the aid of the inspector-general of 
the Stud-stables. Each year, by their care, the mares of 
a district would be scrupulously examined and classed for 
the prize. 

These premiums should be granted for eight years, to 
the best three-year-old fillies, to which this distinction 
would give the entrance upon the Stud-booh. In the first 
year of the establishment of this book, destined to contain 
the genealogical documents relative to the celebrities of 
the race, the mares above three years, which have been 
found w T orthy to be inscribed, should be likewise given 
prizes, and this same should be allowed them as a pension 
up to the age of ten years. 

These inducements should be annual, and kept up as 
long as the prize-mare is kept as a breeder and in proper 
condition, that is to say, sound of wind, and exempt from 
the glanders. Other blemishes, the natural consequence 
of work and age, might be tolerated. 

Following the same system and conditions, similar 
prizes should be awarded to stallions, without paying 
attention to rewards which they may have received from 
other quarters. But as the resources of which a depart- 



36 THE PEECHEEON" HOESE. 

merit disposes, augmented even by private contributions, 
are not inexhaustible, it is urgent that the prizes, always 
liberal and remunerative, being from two to four hundred 
francs for mares, and from four to eight hundred francs 
for stallions, should be accorded only to specimens of real 
merit. Quality, when it effects the regeneration of a race, 
is always preferable to quantity. 

It is, especially, necessary to excite earnest breeders by 
all possible means, to preserve or to buy remarkable 
Percherons, presenting in their form and character the 
type of the stallion. And, if the prizes of four to eight 
hundred francs, of which we have just asked the institu- 
tion, should not appear to the authorities of the depart- 
ments a sufficient means to impart the necessary impulse 
for the complete success of this measure, the departments 
might themselves buy some remarkable types, and either 
use them, themselves, in gratuitously serving the finest 
mares, or in confiding them to good farmers, in whose 
hands they would be given the prize and used almost for 
nothing, as long as their health permitted them to be prof- 
itably kept. After a certain number of years these stal- 
lions might even become the property of their keepers, or 
they might, from the beginning, be granted them at reduced 
prices, with the obligation, on the one side, that they 
should be used with judgment and preserved with care, 
and on the other side, with the promise of a largely 
remunerative prize. Love of gain has driven the peasant 
to strip himself of everything he owned that w r as good ; 
it now belongs to the authorities, by the incentive of gain, 
to induce this same peasant to pursue a wiser course. 

Oppose as much as possible the use of stallions before 
fully four years old, and the fillies being put to breeding 
before reaching their third year. This can only be attained 
by giving the prize, in the class of fillies, to such as have 
been served at the age of three years, by stallions of at 
least four years old. 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 37 

Crossing by selection has numerous advocates, and from 
all time, the best-informed, the most practical men, have 
been unanimous in proclaiming that blood is only Re- 
served and improved by blood — that is to say, by selection. 
It is easy and not expensive, inasmuch as the necessary 
subjects are always at hand; it is natural, inasmuch as its 
simplicity is apparent to every mind. And, if it does not 
bring the rapid results so pleasing to those too eager for 
profit, it is, at least, always sure. For, without giving at 
first exceptional results, it never fails in its effects, by 
reason of the affinity existing between the different indi- 
viduals, and by reason especially of their perfect conformity 
with the climate and soil. In fact, this conformity is not 
an indifferent matter, and it has been found by experience 
that animals, noted upon their native soil for their sureness 
in reproducing, and for the invariable transmission of their 
qualities to their descendants, frequently fail in these re- 
spects when imported into another country. Often, several 
years roll by before they recover that equilibrium of health 
and that ;ranquillity of animal functions, which permit 
them to reproduce in a sure, equal, and fixed manner, 
without which an improvement in the type cannot take 
place. 

Selection has long been practiced in Perche, and it has 
there produced for a long time the best results, which were 
interfered with only by the importation from Picardy, 
Caux, and Boulogne, of animals of inferior blood. 

Among the bovine species, we have curious examples 
of the value of selection, especially those furnished in 
Cotentin, where a breed exists the finest, best, and the most 
sought after in France. Crossing with foreign blood, which 
fashion, at one date or another, had wished to prescribe, 
has always been forbidden as a crime in this country. 
It is thus that the finest herds of La Manche, and especially 
those of M. Mannoury of Canisy near Saint-L6 have been 
formed. The success of this breeder began at Ebisey near 



38 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

Caen, where he commenced a few years ago and where 
the stock can be easily examined. 

A bull of the Cotentin race, the most perfect and best 
bred that could be found, put to heifers of the same breed, 
chosen among the finest types, was the starting point 
officially recorded. Selection, operating upon this prog- 
eny, as it had operated in the beginning, was continued 
wit>hout intermission, and, by these means it has produced 
a herd all the members of which are alike and constant- 
ly transmitting identical qualities. 



CHAPTER III. 

CONSANGUINITY. 

Conjugal consanguinity has neither partisans nor friends. 
The physiologist, physician, priest, and legislator, have al- 
ways launched against it the same anathema. All, in 
making war against it, knew that it was the surest method 
of establishing a fixed and permanent race; but, all, pre- 
occupied in seeking a means of universal fusion, thought 
they had found in the prohibition of this a leveler destined 
to equalize everything. 

It was feared that certain families would become too 
individualized, too marked in their tendencies ; and all, 
without acknowledging it, endeavored to close a way 
which might lead to the engrossment of fortunes. 

Close interbreeding, in the horse, has not the same politi- 
cal inconveniences; this is clearly apparent; but with us, 
the desire to legislate upon and regulate everything, re- 
ducing all to a common level, has prevailed. Equine con- 
sanguinity has not, any more than the other, found favor. 

One fact, however, strikes any one at the outset who has 



THE PEECHEEON EOESE. 39 

studied the equine races, followed, step by st^p, their 
progeny, and made himself acquanted with their per- 
formances. This fact is : 

If a horse is remarkable over all others in one of the 
three following ways : personal beauty, high qualities, or 
sureness of reproduction ; go back boldly to his origin, 
and you will find yourself, at each step, face to face 
with close interbreeding — that is to say, the reforming of a 
race by means of itself, the result of great qualities in- 
creased by drafts made at the source of a generous blood. 

The thoroughbred race in England, which has been 
formed but with a very limited number of primitive agents, 
and which, consequently, soon became consanguine, has 
anew, and at two distinct epochs, absorbed in every de- 
gree and repeatedly the blood of two famous groups, rep- 
resented, the first by Byerly Turk, Darley Arabian, 
and Godo^hin Arabian; the second, by Matchem, Herod, 
and Eclipse. At the present moment, it maintains itself, 
thanks to a universal consanguinity, and everything good 
which exists, by going back inevitably to these sole pro- 
genitors, now forms but one and the same family. Mag- 
nificent results have come from these alliances, and every 
day it can be proved that this blood has not degenerated. 

It is the same in all breeding countries, and it has been 
shown, (for proofs see the journal "La vie d la campagne", 
of the 30th November, 18C3), that especially in Merlerault, 
the nursery of the fine French breeds, everything excep- 
tionally good which exists, or which has existed, is the re- 
sult of consanguinity — that is, " in-and-in breeding." 

The following is the conclusion of the author of this note : 

These examples (the pedigrees of the best horses), col- 
lected with care, will perhaps bring upon me the accusa- 
tion of being a partisan of in-and-in breeding. In 
principle, I condemn its absolute use ; but, within cer- 
tain limits, I admit and advise it, especially in the com- 
mencement, when it becomes a question of founding and 



40 THE PEECHEEON" HOUSE. 

establishing a family designed to exercise a permanent in- 
fluence upon the future improvement of a region. 

Uniting together vices of conformation, character, and 
temperament, is rendering them indelible for ever. Uniting 
quality, beauty, and aptitude, it is preserving the monopoly 
of these in a single family.. 

Hence, I would like, when there appeared, on the turf 
or elsewhere, one of those envied types of which nature is 
generally so sparing, that judicious attempts, made with 
patience, should fix the qualities so apt to disappear, and 
collect, so to speak, all the sources whence they emanate. 

The brothers, sisters, and collaterals, should be included, 
but once only, in these crossings, which might even go 
back, if it were still time, as far as the grandsires and 
dams, on account of the resemblance noticed between 
ancestors and their grandchildren. 

Finally, the truly valuable and completely successful re- 
sults of a family thus strengthened should be coupled ac- 
cording to the rules of intelligent crossing to the equally 
confirmed representatives of some other excellent family, 
fit to form new offspring. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OUGHT THE GRAY COLOR OF THE PERCHERON TO BE 
INFLEXIBLY MAINTAINED ? 

, Formerly I liked the gray horse very much, and have 
more than once praised this color. But time has dissi- 
pated my illusions. 

Thus, while acknowledging my former preferences for 
the gray horse over the horse of a different shade, I am 
now very far from showing myself exclusive, and quar- 



THE PEECHEROX HOESE. 41 

reling with the mass of enlightened persons who seem 
desirous of adopting the dark colored coats. I only desire 
one thing, and that is to save the Percheron race, and to 
preserve to Perche its prosperity and its glory. 

If I have liked the gray horse, it was from conviction, 
and not to court those who saw no safety outside the 
gray. But when the wisdom and the extreme intelligence 
of masters of science, prefering a less showy color, de- 
monstrated to me that Perche might find an era of new 
glory and prosperity in changing the coat of its horse and 
thus enlarging the circle of consumption, I bowed meek- 
ly to their opinion. I liked the gray horse because I 
thought that Providence had created it gray in order that 
it might be able to withstand, during its work, the heat of 
the sun, and not be prostrated under its rays. I liked it 
gray, as the Arab likes his horse gray and his bournous 
of a whitish color ; as the American planter likes his white 
cotton suit and his panama ; as our soldier, in the field, 
liked, under the African or Mexican sky, the havelock 
which protected him against the rays of the burning 
luminary. I liked it gray because it seemed to me to recall 
more than any other the Arab, the primitive horse ; be- 
cause Perche having always possessed gray horses, I 
thought there was much more chance of finding, under 
this coat, the type of the country ; because I had been 
rocked to sleep to the tune of that old ballad of our 
ancestors, celebrating Charles de Trie, the Percheron 
Seigneur, going forth to combat the English at the battle 

of Poitiers : 

" On charger white 
The sire of Trie 
Against the foe 
Has gone to war," etc. etc. ; 

because, in a word, during my infancy, I had breathed the 
dust of the old manuscripts making mention of the white 
Percheron mares. I liked it gray, because, for the service 
of the post-coaches and couriers, in their long stages, in the 



42 THE PERCHEKON HORSE. 

middle of the night, the gray horse appeared to me more 
easy to guide than the horse of a dark color. Finally, it 
has always seemed to me that this coat was more becom- 
ing than any other the powerful form of a vigorous 
worker. Does not a good-looking, stalwart, and honest 
peasant please you better — is he not infinitely more at 
ease with the Gallic blouse covering his broad shoulders, 
than under the dark folds of a fashionable coat, which 
makes him appear awkward and abashed ? 

But everything is much changed. The country has 
no longer any special type in the midst of all this, gray 
amalgamated with Brittany, Picardy, and Caux, of which 
the equine stock of Perche is now composed. If the 
Percheron should cease to be bound by this law of gray, 
if he should become of all shades, at the same time re- 
maining good, and such as Perche knows how to make 
him, he would cease to be dishonored by those everlasting 
plagiarists, shamelessly calling themselves Percherons 
because they happen to be gray and have travelled across 
the Perche country. If he should become of all shades, 
in preserving the qualities and movement which are a 
feature of everything that the tonic grasses and the line 
and vivifying air of Perche produces, he would not be 
reduced to the simple role of furnishing the 6,000 or 7,000 
horses that the omnibuses and teamsters each year require, 
plus the 600 or 700 typical ones that foreign countries de- 
mand of Perche. He might, little by little, contribute to 
the satisfaction of the half-fancy and to the wants of the 
hunting and army equipages ; he might advantageously 
replace the German horse, which we are obliged to employ 
in want of a better. Post-coaches no longer existing, 
there is no longer need of gray horses for the night in the 
midst of the darkness of the highways. Steam machinery, 
the indispensable substitute for the lack of human hands in 
the country, being destined to execute, in part, the labors 
of agriculture, the horse will be less employed there, and 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 43 

the one that will be called for, having fewer difficulties to 
overcome, can be lighter, more distingue, faster, and 
more fit for adaptation to the exigences of trade and 
fashion. — Finally, Fashion wishing, positively, no more 
gray horses, and the Perch eron finding no longer a suffi- 
cient employment in the omnibuses, will soon find himself 
in a tight place if he do not take a fresh start, and make 
himself acceptable — if he do not conform to the ex- 
actions of the age, and become more stylish and darker 
colored. 

It is settled, then, that he must put upon his back a less 
showy covering ; but he can only do this on condition 
that he become, thanks to good crossings, more present- 
able and have a more stylish air. And, really, what is 
more ridiculous than a vulgar and common beast decked 
out with the livery of the fancy and private horse ! 

Let us occupy ourselves, then, seriously in looking up 
breeding stock of dark coats ; the time to do this appears 
to me to have come. But where will we go to find 
them? Let us look about us and seek for this in Perehe. 

If you there find, under a dark coat, a fine Percheron, 
possessing all the qualities and specialties of the race, 
make haste, take him and color your horses. Sincerely, 
I give you this advice. Still, as in the present state of 
things, it is rare that the fine and the somber are met with 
together among the working races, by reason of the 
horror which has been professed, up to the present moment, 
for everything not gray, the best expedient would be to 
color the coat by means of fine, dark skin Arabs, or with 
good, well-chosen Norfolks, a subject that we will treat 
upon in the chapter of crossings. As to doing it other- 
wise, it is not to be thought of, the elements not exist- 
ing in Perehe. 

This, however, is only a minor matter. The essential 
point is to unite the heavy to the distingue, weight to gait, 
mildness to vigor, hardiness to energetic temperament, 



44 THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 

steadiness and precocity ; in a word, to repeat myself for 
the hundredth time, add a little more dash and style. 
Correct the defects of conformation, the imperfections of 
color, without weakening, without breaking up the harmony 
of the admirable qualities which have made of the Per- 
cheron the first horse of the age. 



CHAPTER V. 

PRESERVE PURE, AND WITHOUT INTERMIXTURE, THE 

THREE TYPES OF THE PERCHERON RACE— THE 

LIGHT HORSE, THE DRAFT HORSE, THE 

INTERMEDIATE HORSE. 

We have spoken, in Chapter II, Part First, of the three 
types which the Percheron race presents — the light horse, 
the draft horse, and the intermediate or post horse. These 
three breeds come of the soil and are the product of an- 
cient crosses. There is reason for their existing and for 
their marked peculiarities ; and reason requires, then, that 
they should be preserved, and, in maintaining them always 
in their proper functions, we obey, in that progressive 
spirit which urges us to embellish everything. The first 
is destined to become the post horse and horse for private 
use, the surest and most agreeable means of locomotion. 
The second cannot be replaced for express carting, and for 
the builders and contractors of Paris and other large 
towns. To the third, the omnibuses always offer a steady 
market. Consequently, it is important to keep them with- 
out intermixture and to continue them uninterruptedly 
each in its respective class. Hence in seeking to add 
weight to a class it is necessary to avoid crossing it with 



THE PERCHERON" HOESE. 45 

a race superior in height, and different in conformation 
and temperament. 

The heaviest and strongest of a class, united among 
themselves, will produce more surely the kind demanded 
than a too precipitate crossing. Nothing is more risky 
than crosses made without judgment. It is by them that 
harmony of form is destroyed, and a degenerate mongrel 
race is produced as the inevitable consequence, It is then 
important, in the reunion of types, never to lose sight of 
equality and similarity of conformation and qualities. 
But, at the same time, it is necessary to inarch with the 
age, study its tendencies, and be always ready to guide a 
movement which otherwise might drag you in its wake. 

We must not lose sight of the fact that the services re- 
quired of the Percheron horse are not the same as former- 
ly. The omnibus service, especially, which, scarcely ten 
years ago, was considered the mildest, has, at present, be- 
come the hardest, and the one which requires heavy 
horses, uniting speed with strength. 

On the other hand, as a consequence of the great 
changes in the life and means of conveyance of the 
wealthy, the Percheron race has been most prominently 
brought forward. Almost all ranks of the upper classes 
have now adopted the Percheron horse of the light kind 
for their private uses, hunts and drives in the country. 
The fondness for rapid traveling rendering these classes 
more exacting than formerly, the necessity has arisen of 
finding in Perche, specimens with weight and speed with 
a light and stylish form. Accordingly, it becomes neces- 
sary to find means of adding the greatest possible speed 
to the other valuable characteristics of the Percheron 
horse. To reach this result promptly, we should have re- 
course to the Arabian stallion, and this, surely, would be 
the quickest means. But as I do not find this Percheron 
race, in its present state, sufficiently prepared for this al- 
liance, and as I think that it still needs two or three gen- 



46 THE PEECHERON" HORSE. 

erations of preparatory crossings with itself, it will be 
necessary to commence, in order to attain this end, by 
close interbreeding. 

We should, at first, commence by exploring the Perch e- 
ron centers devoted exclusively to the rearing of mares, 
and, in these places, we should particularly visit the local- 
ities in which they have no great development as to 
height. Here we would select a group of from fifteen to 
twenty fillies, the best, the finest limbed, the most com- 
pact, the fastest trotters, and having for an extreme max- 
imum the height of lS 1 ^ to 16 hands. 

The same course should be pursued in the regions where 
the colts are raised, and there choice should be made of 
some light stallions, approaching, as much as possible, to 
the mares in form and qualities. 

All the best foals, then, should be in their turn subject- 
ed to couplings conducted with the same care, and among 
the third generation would be found types sufficiently con- 
firmed, either as founders of a race among themselves, or 
for crossing with the Arab, of which we will speak in the 
following chapter. 

If a little larger size be required, it would not be neces- 
sary to have recourse to other types than those which I 
have just indicated. Well-balanced horses favor every 
modification. More tonic, substantial nourishment, and 
more fertile meadows would increase the height and 
weight, as well as the strength and spirit. 

Do you desire omnibus horses? — You can obtain 
them by selecting in the regions which best produce the 
post-horse, the strongest types, the heaviest bodied, the 
most favored as to height, and the fastest trotters. But 
never yield any of these three points : weight, spirit, and 
speed. 

The animals the nearest alike in size and form should 
then be coupled together, after the manner indicated 
above, and when weight, spirit, and speed, are found with- 



THE PEECHERON HOESE. 47 

out failing in all the progeny, it will then be time, but riot 
till then, to add style. The Arabian stallion, whose ten- 
dency, as we will see later, is to produce heavier and 
stronger than himself, while at the same time imparting 
his mark of supreme distinction, might then be introduced 
to embellish and confirm our good results. 

The heavy draft and the express wagon horses should 
have weight : this is a sine qua non condition ; but it 
would be a great mistake to confine ourselves exclusively 
to mere size. They should possess powerful limbs and 
muscles, joined to great spirit. This crossing, although 
the easiest, would also present great dangers should we 
be satisfied with weight alone ; we would soon arrive at 
the mere lymphatic horse. It is, therefore, urgent, for the 
breeds possessing requisite strength, to choose those 
which are the most distingue, the most nervous, the 
finest limbed, and the most spirited, and to avoid the 
sluggish and lymphatic. These will be found in the ele- 
vated and dry centers, where the food is plenty and nutri- 
tious. 

If Perche proper, Beauce, and the environs of Chateau- 
dun, should not be capable of furnishing their complete 
contingent in this specialty (as I believe they cannot,) 
some good specimens could be met with among the 
Percheron colts raised in the environs of Bern ay and on 
the plains of Sens. 

This variety (the draft-horse) demands a great deal less 
care in the choice of the dams and sires. It is infinitely 
more elementary, since weight is principally sought after. 
Still, it is well, even indispensable, to select individuals 
short coupled and with good quarters, to hold out under 
the enormous loads they are obliged to draw. The means 
resorted to to accomplish this are judicious crosses, con- 
stantly made with a well-determined and always identical 
idea, tending to increase weight and strength, while pre- 
serving spirit and vigor, abundant nourishment, and breed- 



48 THE PERCHEROI* HORSE. 

ing in those sections naturally most propitious to style and 
size. Soon, Perche, placed in a situation without a rival 
for the present, and, above all, for the future, might for- 
ever avoid asking any thing of foreign crossings. For 
though the choice of the stallion and the mare is so im- 
portant in the production of the foal, the climate, the kind 
of food, the agricultural habits, and, finally, the adaptation 
of the region to horse breeding, are of a great deal more 
importance in the development of the animal. It becomes, 
then, somewhat difficult to indicate accurately to what 
types, in such particular cases, the preference should be 
awarded. The best are those which most nearly meet the 
wants of the section. 



CHAPTER VI. 

IMPKOVEMENT OF THE BREED BY MEANS OF FOREIGN 

CROSSINGS. 

However, if with strength acquired and faults correct- 
ed, style is not attained, it may be sought after by judi- 
cious crosses with well-chosen foreign types. 

Two different breeds present themselves to us as means 
of improving our stock by the introduction of foreign 
blood : the Arabian, and the English, with its variations. 
Starting from this point, let us study both and endeavor 
to discover, by analogy, which one would best suit, or, 
rather, which one is the least unfavorable to the purpose. 

I will examine, one after another, these two methods in 
detail, leaving to the cultivator, who is most interested in 
the question, the choice of employing that which seems 
to him the best and the most appropriate, taking into 
view the fertility and the nature of his section. But I 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 49 

must, from the beginning, lay down as a principle that 
both are more expensive than is interbreeding. A race 
to become fit to receive a foreign cross, should be prepared 
for it in advance, in order to shorten, as much as possible, 
the distance existing between the breed so formed and 
proved and that which we seek to create. 

In fact, the foreign cross can do no good, unless the de- 
sired qualities in the race upon which it is made are per- 
manent, fixed, and characteristic. 

Why not think also of increasing our resources by bet- 
ter cultivation, by liberal feeding, by choosing, as I have 
said above, among the race of the country, the most per- 
fect types and those most likely to correct what is vicious 
while they impart their own good qualities? Methods of 
this kind, pursued for a long time and persistently, are 
alone capable of preparing, without inconvenience, for a 
foreign cross. 

Drain your wet meadows, irrigate your hill-sides, fertil- 
ize your soil by the use of improving manures, make pro- 
ductive fields everywhere, create meadows, grow heavy 
oats, enlarge your stables and make them clean, healthy 
and airy. When you have done this, then, but not before, 
you can cross your races with foreign blood, more delicate 
than yours and accustomed to and requiring greater care 
and attention. 

I know that this slowly progressive manner does not 
possess the sympathies of those who, at the commence- 
ment, are restless at not having already reached the goal. 
But it is sure and free from errors, whilst the other, 
(France has but too many examples of this), after money 
squandered and years wasted, reduces the breeder who 
has recourse to it to a more miserable condition than that 
from which he wished to escape. 

Our furia fra?icese, which renders us irresistible in 
war, our fancy for new fashions, which gives birth to 
those wonders which the world hails with ecstacy, and 
3 



50 THE PERCHERON HOUSE. 

our proverbial inconstancy, cause us almost always to go 
astray in breeding. Fashion has no sooner praised horses 
of such and such a race, of this or that model, or such and 
such a coat, than we must immediately produce the like, 
without first ascertaining whether or no our race be pre- 
pared for crossing with them. The result of such crosses 
would be about as valuable as a discussion between a fish- 
woman and an academician ! 

Nature, left to herself, is a thousand times more intel- 
ligent than the man of systems. Are there ever found, 
among the wild animals, among lions, tigers, stags, cham- 
ois, etc., either spavins, tumors, periodical inflammations, 
or any of those thousand infirmities with which our do- 
mestic horse is afflicted? — And here is the reason: in 
the rutting season, the possession of the females becomes 
the incitement to bloody battles. It is always the strong- 
est, the most vigorous, the bravest, the most venturesome, 
and the best made stallion, which receives as a reward for 
his victory, the submission and the admiring love of the 
harem. 

But I assume Perch e prepared, by numerous and good 
crossings of the race within itself, to try, with more sure- 
ness, foreign crossings. Two principal types, as we have 
just seen, are presented for this : the Arab type and the 
English, which is itself derived from the Arab. 

The foreign cross I only speak of with diffidence, be- 
cause with it I enter unknown regions of inductions and 
perhaps, alas ! into ways of deception and ruin, if it is not 
effected with the greatest prudence and judgment. 

Foreign crossings, systematically effected from the north 
to the south, and from the south to the north, have had 
Buffon for their apostle, and, under the cloak of his genius, 
and thanks to the authority of his word, they have reach- 
ed everywhere. But how enumerate the evils brought 
about by a school, whose disciples are still numerous, 
thanks to a perseverance irritated but not deterred by 



THE PEKCHEBON HOUSE. 51 

failure ? These evils have been branded in large characters 
on ail our breeds, since that day when they became the 
objects, not of constant and uniform care, but considered 
as subjects of no consequence, upon which individuals 
might experiment in order to test their theories, and set 
themselves up as teachers. 

Since then, we have no more types properly belonging 
to distinct districts, but a confused assembly, combining 
with rare qualities the defects of this or that cross and 
twenty others more. Everywhere in turn, from one region 
or another, were stallions employed of different types and 
races : those of the south transported to the north, and 
those of the north to the south ; and that without prepa- 
ration, and without attention to the differences of soil and 
climate of the various regions. All these practices have 
injured our breeds without successfully retaining their 
own native qualities. 



CHAPTER Vn. 

THE ARAB CROSSING. 

I commence with the Arab crossing. Two motives 
have induced me to follow this classification : 

1st. The Arabian is the type horse, and the type should 
be examined before its derivatives. 

2nd. The Percheron shows a very great analogy, by his 
coat, conformation, character of race, mild disposition, 
and endurance, to the Arab, of which he seems to be the 
son, notwithstanding certain differences, the result of 
time, climate, and the region in which he is bred and in 
which he lives. 

I have said that the Percheron horse exhibits in com- 



52 THE PERCHEKON" HORSE. 

mon with the Arab numerous marks of a common parent- 
age and relationship: these marks are very obvious. A 
Percheron, a true Percheron, for some still exist, (as the 
famous Toulouse of M. Cheradame, of Ecouche ; and the 
renowned Jean-le-Blanc of M. Miard, of Yillers, near Sap, 
in the department of the Orne, etc., etc.,) placed along- 
side of an Arab, presents, notwithstanding his heavier 
and grosser form, analogies with him so striking that we 
are easily induced to believe them undoubted relations. 

The Percheron of the primitive type has a gray coat 
like the Arab ; and like him an abundant and silky mane, 
a fine skin, and a large, prominent, and expressive eye; a 
broad forehead, dilated nostrils, and a full and deep 
chest, although, the girth, with him, as with the Arab, is 
always lacking in fullness ; more bony and leaner limbs, 
and less covered with hair than those of other draft-horse 
families. 

He has not, it is true, the fine haunch and fine form of 
the shoulder, nor that swan-like neck which distinguishes 
the Arab ; but it must not be forgotten that for ages he 
has been employed for draft purposes, and these habits 
have imparted to his bony frame an anatomical structure, 
a combination of levers adapted to the work he is called 
upon to perform. He has not, I again acknowledge, 
such a fine skin as the Arab, nor his prettily rounded, 
oval, and small foot ; but we must remember the fact that 
he lives under a cold climate, upon elevated plains, where 
nature gives him for a covering a thicker skin and a 
warmer coat, and that he has been for ages stepping upon 
a moist, clayey soil. 

In all that remains in him, we recognize a heavy Arab, 
modified and remodeled by climate and peculiar circum- 
stances. He has remained mild and laborious, like his 
sire ; he is brought up, like him, in the midst of the family, 
and, like him, he possesses in a very high degree the fac- 
ulty of easy acclimation. He acquires this in the midst 



THE PERCHERON HORSE. 53 

of the numerous migrations he accomplishes in Perche, the 
counterpart of those that the type horse makes upon the 
sands of the desert. A final comparison, which has not, 
as yet, been sufficiently noticed, is, that, like the Arab, he 
has no need of being mutilated in order to be trained, 
managed and kept without danger. In a word, the Perche- 
ron, notwithstanding the ages which separate them, pres- 
ents an affinity as close as possible with the primitive 
horse, which is the Arab. 

From this similarity of form and probable relationship, 
comes the thought of new alliances. But in order to form 
a more easy estimate of their effects, it will not be with- 
out interest to classify the horses with reference to their 
origin. This classification produces three very distinct 
groups : the primitive horse, the natural horse, and the 
compound horse. 

The Primitive Horse, oriental in its origin, is the pure 
Arabian horse ; no other is acknowledged. 

During the time of the crusaders, as we have already 
said in our first part, in consequence of wars and all kinds 
of excursions, individuals of this race were spread over al- 
most all parts of the globe. Although at first the prestige 
which their superior merits deserved led to their being 
bred in-and-in, these exiles were placed under different 
latitudes, in diiferent atmospheric and hygienic conditions, 
which gradually modified their qualities and led to the de- 
generacy of the race. And it became more or less degen- 
erate in proportion as the soil upon which the colts were 
foaled was colder, poorer, and more inhospitable ; for the 
horse is as much, and more, the son of the soil upon which 
he is foaled and reared as he is of his sire and dam. 

This fact has no need of proof. We see it every day 
before our eyes in studying at home the changes that our 
French breeds themselves undergo when transported from 
one province to another. It might, however, be thought 



54 THE PERCHERO^ HORSE. 

that these new latitudes, these new regions, would differ 
but little from those in which they lived. 

The first change that the primitive horse undergoes, 
from the difference of the regions into which he has been 
transplanted, being due to nature itself, we call the 
result the Natural Horse. — Here it is proper to remark 
how wise nature always is. If it modify the primitive 
horse for the worse, it modifies him, however, under condi- 
tions better adapted to his wants. In rendering him more 
puny, it renders him more temperate, and enables him to 
live and to nourish himself upon the food that the locality 
is able to furnish. Submitted to the trials and the fatigues 
of war, and to all the miseries in its train, the natural 
horse, badly built, ungainly and puny as he is, endures 
fatigue almost as well as the primitive horse. 

The Cross-bred Horse is, as his name indicates, the issue 
of a sire and dam of different breeds. This crossing, 
made with a view to improvement, may give, when judic- 
ious, more elegant, better made, and finer-bodied progeny 
and also quicker in their various gaits, but always requir- 
ing, especially if derived from the English, exceptional 
care, and so much the more particular as they are of a more 
dlstingve nature. 

Abandoned to himself, deprived of blankets, shelter, 
grooming, nnd oats, the cross-bred deteriorates early, and 
in war perishes miserably, while the natural and the prim- 
itive horse thrives in browsing upon the scantiest herbage. 
On this score, our two campaigns of the Crimea and Italy 
have furnished unquestionable proofs. 

Such is the result chiefly obtained with the too dis- 
tingue English horse, even when delivered to the best 
working mares. In the army, especially, is this point set- 
tled ; they have there recognized and proved that the 
worst subjects were always the issue of authors having 
too much blood and too impressionable. No horses are 
more apt than these to provoke and render ill humored, 



THE PEECIIERON HOESE. 5i> 

and, if I may so speak, ruin the temper of the men placed 
over them. 

When a working race is crossed with the English, it is in- 
dispensable that the stallion should be well bred and be but 
a quarter blood, — a quarter at the utmost. And the man- 
ner of balancing the blood is neither an indifferent thing 
nor a thing to be neglected. We should be very careful 
not to accept as such the product of a full-blooded or even 
half-blooded stallion and a common mare, but should rather 
take the product, ameliorated through generations, of 
strong races that have been gradually perfected, such as, 
for instance, certain Norfolk horses, certain roadsters and 
trotters, of which old Jaggard was a type, and of which 
Performer^ although not so marked, vaguely recalled the 
memory. 

Since I have mentioned the name of Norfolk, let me 
say, that after the Arab race, of all the foreign ones, 
the Norfolk trotter is the one which seems to me to offer 
the greatest advantages in an alliance with the Perche- 
ron. With both, good qualities and detects are diverse, 
so that they can complete and correct each other by means 
of a wisely combined and carefully studied connection. 

The Norfolk horse has, it is true, an ugly head, and his 
eye is small and destitute of expression ; but his neck, 
with good lines, starts well from his breast ; his shoulder 
is fine and well-sloped ; his chest magnificent, and his girth 
enormous; his loins broad, well-sustained and well-attach- 
ed ; his haunches long, his croup horizontal; his buttocks 
well filled out and low ; and his limbs strong, but not quite 
free enough from fat ; nor is his action always sufficiently 
stylish, yet he has a quick and free gait. 

Give to this horse a mare having a fine and expressive 
head, lighted up with a large, intelligent, well-opened 
eye; let her possess lean, elegant, and perfect limbs, 
and, a hundred to one, you will get a valuable colt. But, 
with the Norfolk, as with all others, there are degrees, and 



56 THE TERCHERON" HORSE. 

if I cross the Channel in search of a stock horse, I should 
wish him to possess the following qualities: 

This stallion should be rather large, have thick and 
strong limbs, chest fully developed, the girth as great as 
possible, very heavy in the hind-quarters, buttocks descend- 
ing well, forehead broad and open, and the eye large and 
expressive. He should be always shorter in height than 
the mares, but quite as broad, and, I repeat it, as short- 
limbed as possible, on account of an invariable, innate ten- 
dency of the English horse to height and thinness. He 
should be neither cross, nor, above all, affected with that 
nervous sensitiveness too common in the English breeds. 
His action should be quick, well kept up, bold and square. 
He should have, if possible, a decided and well-pronounced 
color, either a dark bay or a chestnut. Breeding stock 
of his get should be chosen under identical conditions, 
and then they would be on a footing with him, although, 
logically speaking, there would be always an inclination 
to prefer the type to the sub-type. 

But, at present, it is easy to be deceived, even in Eng- 
land, in regard to the stock of the country. There is less 
risk in using, if he can be found, a good, heavy Anglo- 
Norman horse, bred and reared under our eyes in Merle- 
rault or on the plains of Alencon, than a spurious English 
one, which is often none other than a forlorn hope of some 
nameless region. In fact, from certain appearances, there 
is reason to fear that persons from the other side of the 
Channel visit the continent to do a smart thing, and pur- 
chase heavy, lymphatic colts to bring up on some English 
farm, and then resell them as Norfolk horses. What kind 
of improvement is to be expected from such means ? 
We should always respect the will of nature, which allows 
us to assist her in her course, but we should never violate 
her laws. 

Man vainly wishes to force nature with all these cross- 
es, at which she takes exceptions. To all this so-called 



THE PERCHERON HORSE. 57 

science she opposes her relentless logic ; these products 
are an unnatural brood, which she refuses to acknowledge 
as her own. She stops short, and, no matter how good 
these results may appear in themselves, the error crops 
out, and it is known by experience that they almost all 
fail when put to the test of breeding. 

But suppose every measure of prudence taken, even sup- 
pose there has been no mistake, most of the produce re- 
sulting from this first crossing will be, generally, lighter 
built than their dams. However, among the number there 
will be found some which, uniting weight to beauty, will 
constitute good types with athletic and regular forms. 
The latter only should be preserved, and these only can 
be usefully employed, either among themselves or outside 
of their own families, in the improvement of our stock. 

At the second crossing, the imperfections observed at 
the first will disappear in a great measure, and from the 
third crossing, with constant care, unflinching attention, 
and unwearied patience, the difficult problem will be 
solved : size combined with vigor, hardiness of constitu- 
tion with style, and weight with elegance. 

If, on the contary, by wishing to make too quick prog- 
ress, there should be too much difference between the 
stallion and the mare, the resulting stock, although in ap- 
pearance successful, will always prove bad breeders, giving 
ungainly results, with blemishes which would never have 
occurred in proceeding wisely, especially not in improv- 
ing by means of the primitive horse, all of whose ancestors 
are of the same race. 

This latter crossing, that is, with the Arab, may some- 
times give slower, but with it we are always sure to ob- 
tain finally better results. Thus in making choice of the 
best Percheron mares and crossing them with fine, but the 
stoutest possible, Arabs, we would advance towards cer- 
tain improvements, and at the end of a few generations, 
we would be sure to find at each foaling season fine types, 
3* 



58 THE PEKCHERO]* HORSE. 

combining with the strength and docility of the dams the 
style, spirit, and intelligence, of the sires. For, it must not 
be forgotten, work requires intelligent horses ; the more 
they are gifted with this quality, the longer they last and 
the more useful their services. 

If the drunken driver of the Lyons Railroad, whose ad- 
venture is known the world over, had not had for his work- 
ing companion a brute as nobly intelligent as the old horse 
Lapin, employed in hauling dirt carts, he would surely 
have perished. The driver having fallen in a state of in- 
toxication on the railroad, before a train descending a 
grade, was on the point of being run over, when the horse, 
seeing him in this perilous situation and at the risk of be- 
ing himself crushed, seized him by the waist and lifted 
him off the track. This deed, performed under the eyes 
of several squads of workmen, was soon known over the 
whole line, and won for Lapin the title of The {invalid' 's 
and workingmeri 's) Adopted Son, a nobly gained title and 
well-merited reward, if ever there was one. 

In the legends of all times are to be found examples of 
the intelligence of the oriental horse ; but I have never 
heard quoted a single one in regard to the English thor- 
oughbred, which seems only formed for pride, gluttony, 
and brutality. As an example of the sagacity of the Arab, 
I will limit myself to mentioning a fact witnessed by all 
the officers of the school of Saunxur. At this school there 
was an old Arabian known to the whole army. One day, 
a lady having her handkerchief scented with, I know not 
what perfume, passed in front of the veteran, caressing 
and feeding him with dainties. From that time on, the 
officer who accompanied the lady could never enter her 
parlor, although the odor of the perfume was impercepti- 
ble to all, but the horse, on his return, was aware of the 
fact, and bore witness to it, each time, by neighing and by 
a hundred expressions of pleasure. 

The vigor and pluck of the oriental horse have passed 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 59 

into a proverb. There is not a soldier in our army who 
cannot "bear testimony to this. 

The horses of the English cavalry almost all perished 
in the Crimean war, whilst our Algerian horses almost all 
returned. In the Italian war our Algerian horses bore 
well the fatigues of the campaign, where the horses 
springing from the English were decimated. 

It appears impossible that these two proofs should have 
no signification and should not teach a lesson. Ought it 
not to be concluded from them that the war-horse, that is 
the horse for endurance, should only be of Arab blood or 
at least derived from the Arab ? 

And are we not justified in believing that what has 
taken place with the war-horse applies also to other 
horses destined for continuous work? Hence are we not 
right in always preferring the Arab to the English stallion, 
when it is a question of improving the different breeds 
of work and draft-horses, as well as the war horse ? 

The Arabian stallion -would seem so much the more fit 
for this use, as a long experience has proved that his get 
upon our native mares are much heavier than himself; 
they, at the same time, always transmitting a rich, unblem- 
ished blood and a solid frame — qualities which are preserv- 
ed indefinitely. 

The Arab horse imparts, also, great endurance to his 
progeny, and without going back as far as the turf, where 
we see figuring on the top round of the ladder Arlequin, 
Zephyr, Valencia, Corysandre the Lorraine, whose dam 
was an Arabian of Deux- Fonts, Anthony, Eylau, Kashas, 
and Palmyre, let us be satisfied with citing in mass, all 
the fine and spirited breeds of Limousin, Navarre, Bigorre, 
Tarbes, and Auvergne, showing in every pore the pres- 
ence of the Oriental blood. 

It is also especially to be remarked, although the Arab 
does not trot and only gallops, that all his get are quick, 
square trotters. We can produce numberless examples 



60 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

of this, although Arab blood has been infinitely less dis- 
seminated than any other in our Northern districts. 

"We can cite the famous Eclipse of M. de Narbonne, 
the no less famous Herminie of M. Forcinal, all the de- 
scendants of Bacha, Asian and Gallipoll, which were 
matchless, and the noble sons of Massoud, Eylau, and 
JVoteur. But, as all these have a certain amount of Eng- 
lish blood joined to the Arab, we shall be answered : — It 
was the English blood that trotted and gave them their 
winning points. — We will confine ourselves to citing only 
the sons of Bedouin, all admirable trotters, though all 
coming of poor Brittany mares, the Kerims, the Avisos, 
and the Moggys, whose fine action invariably attracts the 
attention of every one. 

But the endurance possessed by the Arab in so eminent a 
degree is not the only quality to be considered. It is also 
the opinion of the best breeders that the race is good tem- 
pered, docile, patient, of great precocity, and easily raised, 
all of which qualities it invariably transmits to its get. 

No steeple-chase horses have shown themselves more 
intelligent than Pledge, Raphael, Senora, and above all 
the immortal Franc-Picard, by whom the best riders 
found themselves excelled in the art of measuring an ob- 
stacle and mastering it skillfully ; also, these were deep in 
the Arab blood. If Auricula, notwithstanding he was a 
son of Baron, with his variable and peevish temper has 
shown himself to be, when he chose, one of the best leap- 
ers of our age, it is because through his dam he is of Arab 
blood. 

From all these considerations the Arabian seems greatly 
preferable to the English horse, which exacts, moreover, 
too much tact and skill on the part of man. The educa- 
tion of the wagon driver is not yet sufficiently advanced 
for him to be able to reap all the advantages claimed of 
the working races. The irritability of the English horse, 
his impatience, and his nervousness, which are, doubtless, 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 61 

of utility on the turf, are transmitted to all his descend- 
ants, which for this very reason are less fit for work, less 
governable, and more trying to the patience of the raw 
and ignorant driver during protracted service. 

All who have raised colts out of common mares "by 
Arabians are unanimous in opinion, and we have ourselves 
proved it, that their get is generally even tempered, of a 
mild, willing, and quiet disposition, easily and cheaply 
reared, and fit for work at three years old, thus paying 
for their keep. 

It is quite the contrary with the colt of English blood. 
He, by reason of his fractiousness, his nervous ardor, his 
exacting nature, and his slow growth, requires a degree 
of care and management which does not permit him to 
render any essential service before the age of five years. 

It results from this that the Arabian progeny, even at 
the first crossing, which is always the most difficult and 
critical, pays for its nourishment from the age of three 
years, whilst the English does not pay until he has reach- 
ed five years, and this without counting the greater ex- 
pense of his raising and the difficulty of finding men cap- 
able of breaking and training him without accident and 
bringing him safe to that quinquennial period. 

Were their qualities the same, the Arabian would cost 
much less to the breeder than the English horse. To the 
former, then, should always be given the preference in 
moderately rich countries where agriculture has not arriv- 
ed at great perfection. Thus it was by means of the 
Arabian that Limousin, Navarre, Bigorre, the plains of 
Tarbes and Auvergne, all countries neither very fertile nor 
wealthy, have formed their unrivalled horses, the hardi- 
ness of which suited the productions of the soil. These 
being un suited to the more delicate and less vigorous 
English horse, its introduction was an injury to the native 
stock. In our days, Limousin has been ruined by the in- 
troduction of English blood, as formerly, in the district 



62 THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 

of Tarbes, three important breeders, Messrs. de Gontaut, 
de Bouillac, and de Montreal, ruined their studs with the 
English cross. 

The Arabian can be used without fear upon the undulat- 
ing slopes of elevated hills, and upon thin stony lands 
where agriculture is but little advanced; but the English 
horse requires rich, well-cultivated meadows and grassy 
valleys. 

As regards form, the Arab cross is the surest. The sire 
being, if I may so speak, sui generis, of a confirmed race, 
and possessing for ages a like shape, his get always re- 
semble him, no matter what may be the race, color, shape, 
and derivation, of the dam. Only, in consequence of the 
warmth and strength of his blood, the progeny is always 
larger and heavier than the sire. 

It is not so with the English horse. Made up, and not 
having the same confirmed nature as the Arab, he has not 
the same sureness in generating. Sometimes his get is 
large and sometimes small. His progeny may be spare 
or may be stout. This comes from his ancestors being at 
times of one height and at times of another, and often 
resembling different types. 

We have dwelt, perhaps, at too great length upon our 
preference for the Arab cross ; it now remains to put it in 
practice. The method to be pursued in making this cross 
is simple. 

Having an Arabian of pure race, the heaviest and finest 
bodied that can be found, put him to the heaviest and 
strongest short-limbed mares. Sell the male produce of this 
cross, unless it has been a perfect success. Be less strict 
with the fillies, reject a smaller number, and use the good 
for breeding. As much as their conformation will permit, 
and in order to fix the Arab blood in a deeper and more in- 
delible manner, some choice specimens may be put either to 
their sire himself, or to such of the half-brothers as should 
have proved themselves the best. But beyond the first trial, 



THE PERCHEROKT HORSE. 63 

consanguineous crossings should never again be contract- 
ed, except under exceedingly rare circumstances, or under 
great temptation. The dam of one of the most justly 
celebrated horses of our times is the result of breeding 
a stallion to his dam. From and after the second 
generation, colts and fillies, provided their merit had ren- 
dered them worthy of being used as producers, might be 
taken as types, and as a starting point of a solid and sure 
improvement of the race of a country. 

When, in consequence of age and numerous generations 
of his own get growing up around him, the common sire 
might be exposed to alliances with his grand-children, it 
would become indispensable to transfer him to a distant 
district by proceeding in the manner indicated above. 

After such an infusion of warm blood many years might 
elapse without the necessity of recurring again to Arabian 
stock. But if it should be remarked that its distinctive 
characteristics commenced to disappear from the breed, 
and the action became less free and light, it should be 
again resorted to immediately, following the same method 
as before. 

The light draft types at first obtained, might, according 
to the districts in which they are raised, be transformed 
into the posting, omnibus, and even heavy draft types. 
But all should be done with time and without haste nor even 
wishing to depart from a wise and prudent moderation. 

I cannot terminate this chapter without warning the 
breeder against a peculiarity which hardly ever fails to strike 
a person, who, for the first time, makes a trial of the Arab 
cross, and which has even induced some to abandon this 
method without reaping its fruits. I desire to speak of a 
certain disproportion, more apparent than real, of the limbs 
with the body. It is thus explained : The Arabian, born 
and raised in a poor and barren country, is no sooner 
transported to a more fertile region, than a certain fullness 
of the body is an immediate consequence of this change. 



64 THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 

His progeny, easily fattened, rapidly become corpulent. 
It results from this, that although strongly limbed, they. 
appear, for a large body, to have but weak extremities. 
But have patience ; oats will draw in and strengthen those 
inflated flanks, and, after the second generation, the stom- 
ach of the colt will enlarge on account of the food being 
more abundant than concentrated, the fat will disappear, 
and his compact and solid limbs will appear what they 
really are. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ' ENGLISH CROSS. 

English blood, infused with judgment, allies well with 
the Percheron race, and we have met with perfectly suc- 
cessful results in the midst of the disappointments which 
have been the consequences of injudicious crossing. Too 
often these crossings have been effected in violation of 
common sense, without any attention to the distance which 
separates the blood horse from the common, low-bred 
Percheron mare, she having no affinity with him. But 
these trials require science, wealth, and perseverance, and 
are far from being within the reach of ordinary breeders. 
Those who would succeed must possess the talent of 
waiting, for unfortunately the rearing of the resulting 
progeny is a burden. Their slow development renders 
them but little fit for the labors to which the farmer is in 
the habit of consigning his colts. Then, they cannot, 
like the young Percheron, pass from hand to hand, and 
thus they find themselves stripped of the only advantage 
whieh renders the raising of the draft colts so profitable : 
avoiding embarrassment and affording a prompt profit to 



JH 




^?fe 



; 




THE PEECHERON HOESE. 65 

all through whose hands they pass. In fact, it can easily 
be conceived how favorably, at present, are these chances 
of profit distributed among several hands. The capital 
invested is soon returned; and thus this operation is with- 
in the reach of all purses. 

The issue of English blood, if judiciously managed, will 
some day be finer than the unimproved Percheron. But, 
although carefully looked after and abundantly fed, he 
will remain puny during his early growth, and therefore 
his account can only be closed at a distant date. By 
whom, then, is he to be raised ? By the farmer rich in 
ready money ? In every country such men are rare. By 
the large landed proprietor? But he is not a breeder, or 
if he be, it is only of race-horses. 

Some half-blood English stallions noted for strength and 
weight, standing at Mesle-sur-Sarthe, Courtomer, and 
Nogent-le-Rotrou, have produced fine coach and draft- 
horses, but their number has always been rather limited, 
and they have nearly all been raised without care, like 
the half-blood colt simply at pasture ; consequently, the 
profit accruing has been nothing, or nearly nothing, and 
these have been able to add nothing useful in the way 
of example and imitation. 

On the contrary, in Lower Perche, commencing at 
Nogent and extending as far as Vendome, the draft-horse, 
properly speaking, is the only one that has been raised. 
The wagon-horse is there only met with as an exception, 
and the cultivator is far from being the worse off on this 
account. Witness the prosperity of Montdoubleau, which 
has become the first market of Europe; witness the 
splendid and spirited trotting mares it produces every 
year, and of which the Julles of M. Derre and the 
Sarahs of M. Lamoureux are glorious specimens. 

Perche has seen but twice, to our knowledge, good and 
irrefutable results obtained from the English crossing with 
her race — the first, with Sandy ; the second, with Bay- 



66 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

ard. Sandy was a draft stallion, with a long and silky 
mane, a perfectly white coat, and with a high and grace- 
ful gait like that of an oriental horse; lean and strong 
legs, a short head, dilated nostrils, and a large and intelli- 
gent eye. Although foaled in England, this horse was ev- 
idently not English ; he must have come of eastern blood, 
as this is so often seen among our neighbors who success- 
fully use the Arab blood in the formation of their draft 
and hunting races. 

As for Bayard, he was a son of a Percheron mare be- 
longing to M. Viel, of Chinreville, near Argenton, one 
of the finest and purest ever seen. This mare had been 
bred to Idalis, a small and well-knit wagon-horse, son 
of Don Quichotte, who descended from the thoroughbred 
brood-mare Molna. Consequently, Bayard had in his 
veins some of the best oriental blood, and it is to this cir- 
cumstance that is attributed the vigor, gait, and beauty, 
of all his progeny. 

Perhaps the two stallions Benvenuto and Fandango, 
which passed for Anglo-Percherons, and which have been 
cited as types of draft-horse stallions, will be held up to 
me as a refutation. Benvenuto, the stallion from Pin, 
which has produced well in Perche, was not the son of 
Fastham and a Percheron mare, as was said at the time 
in order to have him accepted by the government, but was 
really out of a Percheron mare by a Percheron stallion 
coming from the neighborhood of Bellesme, and the de- 
scendant of Arabian stallions which had been standing in 
that district. 

Fandango, the other crossed Percheron, uniformly a 
successful stallion, had double cross, on the sire's side, of 
the blood of the Arabian Dagont, and his dam, whose 
pedigree has also been explained to me, came likewise 
from near Bellesme. 

A Percheron stallion called Jean-le- Blanc, native of 
Mauves, and sold about the year 1825 to a M. Viard of 



THE PERCHERON HORSE. 67 

Villers, in Ouche, near Sap, (department of the Orne,) has 
been the sole improving agent of the equine race in Ouche, 
which, up to that time, was reduced to miserable small 
horses without any stamp or value. Although heavy, 
powerful, and, indeed, a shaft-horse, his gait and an inde- 
scribable something pervading his whole body, recalled so 
thoroughly the idea of the oriental family that one was 
disposed to take him for an enlarged Arabian. This fact, 
often related to us, excited our curiosity. We did not rest 
until pressing inquiry upon inquiry, one after another, 
we ascertained that his family had been crossed with a 
stallion from the Pin stables, standing at the Chateau of 
Ooesmes, near Bellesme. And, what was this stallion ? 
The Arab GaUipoli/ 

What can be inferred from these facts, if it be not that 
the crossings which have best succeeded in Perche have 
been those of the Arab, and that the English crosses have 
only succeeded when tempered by contact with the Arab? 

But if the absolute want of stallions for improving the 
breed be felt among the pure Percherons ; if it be impos- 
sible to procure either good Arabs or heavy English, 
freshly tempered with Arab blood; if important and 
powerful considerations compel a recourse to the English 
cross, the latter should only be accepted intelligently and 
under good and wise conditions. Therefore we ask leave 
to refer the reader particularly to what we have already 
advanced in the preceding chapter upon the choice of an 
English stallion. 

In Brittany, in the department of Finisterre, we have 
often heard it declared by quite a large number of breed- 
ers, that for having wished to proceed too fast in that way, 
they had, from the commencement, experienced number- 
less disappointments, the second generation from the 
English cross being always inferior to the first. From 
stout sires and dams, who, from their general appearance 
might be classed in the category of heavy-draft, there 



68 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

daily came ungainly stock, thin, lanky, leggy, and without 
weight in the hind-quarter, unattractive, of a difficult sale 
when young, and proving a veritable misfortune to the 
small farmer counting upon the sale of the colt to pay his 
rent and having neither the place nor means to raise him. 
This stock was, moreover, the object of another disap- 
pointment quite as serious as the first ; rarely was a good 
worker to be found among this burdensome race. 

Is not this tall, lank, weak, — in a word this abortive 
progeny, — -issue of strong and hardy parents, a strange 
and discouraging result ? " Oh ! why is this ? " exclaimed 
the Brittany cultivators. There was a simple reason for 
it, of which they had not learned the value. They pro- 
ceeded with race-horse speed in the way of crossing, and 
gave no oats. They were ignorant of the requirements 
of the distingue horse ; they did not know that in the 
sire and dam, or at least in one of them, there was circulat- 
ing more or less English blood, which produces strange 
results in proportion as it leaves its native place and 
reaches a poor country or one of hard work, and in which 
it no longer receives the prodigal care of its native land. 

We have said that the Arab preserves indefinitely his 
warm blood and constantly gives what he has not even 
himself, — although this truth resembles a paradox, — that 
is : a powerful appearance and a strong frame. It is not 
the same with the English horse and his derivatives ; they 
become thin and always degenerate. If their progeny be 
not fed with oats without stmt, — they require this, and are 
heavy eaters, like everything which comes from the north, 
— their blood grows poorer rapidly. In successive genera- 
tions of these families, born in a dull and damp atmos- 
phere scarcely ever visited by the sun, the legs become 
lean and lanky. It is necessary to recur incessantly to 
new drafts of English upon English, always expensive and 
requiring additional care, without taking into account that 
the result of too great an infusion of this peevish and 



THE PEBCHEROX HORSE. 69 

often irascible blood would be to destroy the heavy-draft 
race — a race that I would like to see preserved intact 
alongside of the two others, though he be not quite 
suited to a country as hilly as Perch e. He might, doubt- 
less, plow successfully the vast and smooth plains of 
Beauce ; but this is not the lot of all. I look for him in 
that busy country called Perche, where he must, without 
rest *or pity, with a shoulder free from all tenderness, drag 
heavy vehicles to the tops of hills, and it will please me 
to see the play of his haunches and limbs in descending 
with these loads bravely and without flinching to the bot- 
tom of the valleys. 

Do you expect, also, from a horse derived from English 
blood that cool, restrained, and ever fresh energy, that 
courageous patience of which the Percheron, every day, 
gives an example in the omnibuses of the streets of Paris ? 
Dragging at a trot heavy loads, the weight of which 
frightens the imagination ; stopping short, both in ascend- 
ing or descending ; starting off freely and always without 
balking ; never sulking at his work or food, and fearing 
neither heat nor cold : this is a specimen of Percheron 
qualities. 

Do you expect from an unjudicious cross with English 
blood a good, heavy draft-horse, a good shaft-horse, or 
a true wagon-horse? No one has now any illusion on 
this score. 

In London, a traction of only about 2,000 lbs. is requir- 
ed of a draft-horse. In Paris, the horses harnessed to the 
heavy stone carts are required to drag as much as 5,000 
lbs. each, and often even more. 

What will dealers in heavy draft-horses do ? The trade 
is already taxed to supply the demand. For long 
experience has taught, and unjudicious crosses have 
proved the English horse and his derivatives to be unfit 
for this purpose, for they are too nervous and not suffi- 
ciently staunch. Thus, the trade avoids them by instinct, 



70 THE PEECHEEO^ HOESE. 

and by instinct avoids every thing resembling them. 
And, on the other hand, it seizes hold of and clings eagerly 
to every indication that can serve it as a sign or mark — 
every thing that can guide it in the search for what it 
likes, and every thing that can guard against its opposite. 

Hence, it repels and proscribes the dark-colored coats 
without examination and reflection, because they are con- 
sidered the colors of the English horse; it accepts the 
grays with confidence, because with them it perceives the 
absence of the dreaded blood, and in them it has found 
that which satisfies all its wants. Would we have arrived 
at this point if we had been prudent, and had the cross- 
breeding been better understood ? 

Finally, what is there at the end of this negative pole 
and this positive pole ? There is the Percheron on whom 
has devolved, and will devolve for a long time yet, the 
rude and killing mission of executing the feats of strength 
exacted of him by modern civilization. The profits in sup- 
plying the demand, accrue, and will accrue for a long time 
to the producer. 

Thus so long as machinery does not replace the horse in 
the traction of heavy carriages, so long as the necessity 
for hard labor remains, recjuiring strength, intelligence, 
endurance, and willingness, so long to the Percheron alone 
will be reserved the dangerous honor of being the great 
draft power, and the price of this matchless agent will in- 
crease in proportion to the growing impossibility of find- 
ing his substitute. 

It is now the time, while crossing the active and trot- 
ting breeds with the Arab or with the well-chosen English 
horse, to carefully preserve the heavy draft-horse, and, by 
means of persevering and judicious crossing, retain for 
him his marked superiority. 

These crossings, which I will sum up in concluding, may 
find a powerful aid in the creation of a Stud-book of tht> 
Percheron breed. 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 71 

CHAPTER IX. 

IMPROVEMENT BY MEANS OE THE STUD-BOOK. 

The Percheron breed is old enough, is propagated with 
sufficient uniformity, and presents sufficiently marked typi- 
cal qualities to authorize us in claiming, in favor of its 
members, the characteristics and the title of a separate 
and distinct "breed. Consequently, a Stud-book, recording 
its pedigrees, would not be out of place. This book 
would have the effect of concentrating the efforts of all 
the breeders, giving them a definite direction, and at the 
same time it would designate stallions foreign to the race, 
and which, up to the present time, have been presented 
with impunity as Perch erons. 

England exhibits a curious example of the influence of 
the Stud-book in the improvement of a breed. The equine 
and bovine races of that country, before the establishment 
of the Stud and Herd-books, were but rudimental. 

The small number of colts of the Royal mares by East- 
ern stallions would have been lost had they not been 
classed together in families in a special book. 

The discovery of the value of the bull Hiibbach would 
have been to no purpose had his descendants not been 
classified by themselves in an authentic manner. 

For it is especially, and only, in the reproduction by 
family that a breed is formed. Consanguinity alone can 
form, in the beginning, a bond of cohesion and connection 
among the descendants of the primitive families. By it, 
alone, they acquire that great similarity of shape and 
adaptation to particular ends, that great ancestral power, 
which they transmit to their posterity, and which, even in 
a commercial point of view, gives them a superior value. 

If it be permitted me for this purpose to select an ex- 
ample within our reach among the bovine races, I would 



72 THE PERCHEMXN- HORSE. 

say that, in Nivernais the celebrated Charollaise breed of 
cattle, only a few years ago, was diffuse, without uniform- 
ity, and without commercial value. The idea of classify- 
ing it by means of a Herd-book was no sooner put in 
practice than good crossings, being all made with system, 
no longer lost their significance. The breed has visibly 
improved, and, at present, it has acquired a value which 
gives it a rank immediately after the Cotentin. 

The Stud-book might be established, as we have indi- 
cated above, by inscribing therein all the stallions and 
mares which had received prizes for years back, continu- 
ing this operation for a dozen years to come, and adding 
therein also the animals which had not taken prizes or had 
not been shown in the fairs, but which public attention 
had classed among the number of types valuable on ac- 
count of the beauty and sureness of their reproduction. 

Parallel to the mode of improvement which I have 
already shown, (Chapter 1st, Part Second), and which has 
as. its agents the members of the Council-boards and the 
district members of each canton, there might be formed, 
as a means of embracing all, a great annual Department 
Fair, to be held alternately in the best towns of Perche at 
the time of the fairs which attract the most people ; in 
Orne, at Mortagne and Alencon ; at Chartres, Nogent-le- 
Potrou, and Chateaudun, for Eure and Loir ; at Vendome 
and Montdoubleau for the department of Loir and Cher. 
The departments of the Cote-d'Or, Nievre, and Youne, 
which possess the best Percheron stallions, might likewise 
enter into the association of the Percheron Stud-book, for 
which they have all the elements. 

This book would give increased value to the breed, as 
is easily understood, for it is the surest of all the means 
of improvement and perpetuation of valuable qualities. 
It would drive off, forever, the defective stallions, and 
those corrupted with hereditary blemishes, as well as those 
coming from tainted families, which, I feel sure, would be 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 73 

refused a record in its pages. The prices of colts would 
likewise gain by this measure, the effect being a powerful 
impulse given to breeding. But it would be necessary to 
be very careful about ever admitting any foreign blood, in 
order that the recorded herds might accumulate more and 
more an ancestral force. 

The Stud-book would offer still another advantage, that 
of permitting us to find again the good types, should 
Perche some day, in consequence of bad crossings, or from 
want of judgment, deviate from the true way. In fact, 
desire of gaining too much and of enjoying too fast at 
present tempts every body into innovations. Our age, so 
eager to enjoy, and so quick in all enterprises, has no longer 
the patience to wait for the improvements that time and 
study can alone confirm and solidly establish. It wants 
things off-hand, and for this it is often satisfied with adul- 
terated products ; hence, these injudicious crossings ; hence, 
this mania for mixing together without discernment — a 
mania which threatens to destroy our valuable national 
breeds. 

In the midst of all this, the opposition of the army, of 
the government stud-stables, and of the trade in heavy 
horses, bring forth new complications. The army, neither 
occupied in breeding nor raising, and naturally remaining 
beyond the consequences it causes, encourages these cross- 
ings, obtaining thereby, more rapidly, the horses it needs. 
But how many of the horses bred by these means are not 
only unfit for army service, but also unfit for any service ! 
Indeed, with a blood stallion and a common mare, if at 
the first crossing, among the thin-flanked, imperfect ones, 
there happen to be a passable horse, good, and with a cer- 
tain degree of style, ordinarily all progress ends there. 
For, by the use of the latter as a reproducer, an animal 
ungainly and without value will most certainly be the 
result, except by chance. The races of the south affiliate 
with the Arab, and those of the north with the English ; 



74 THE PERCHEEON H0ESE. 

but the English, by the infusion of his blood, destroys 
the race of the south. This mode of crossing tends, then, 
to cause our old French races to disappear. 

At the government studs, with elevated views, and with 
a disinterestedness to which all delight in rendering full 
justice and homage, they constantly encourage the crossings 
in which they see the realization of their views. They offer 
rewards, the most powerful of all incentives — giving but 
very modest prizes to the heavy horses, proscribing the 
light coats, and reserving their encouragement for the 
light horses of dark colors. 

As for the trade, it adopts but slightly the views of the 
army and the government stables, and it gives its money 
to what has remained outside of these impulses. 

With the Stud-book we will be able, without giving 
offence, to satisfy the army, the stud-stables, and the trade 
— the army and the stud-stables, which want the light, 
stylish, dark-skinned horse ; the trade — omnibuses, con- 
sumption of the large cities, and agriculture — which require 
weight, vigor, action, honesty, docility, and endurance. 

The Stud-book will furnish the means of finding types 
fit for all services. But the breeders will divide them- 
selves into two opposite parties. Those who wish the 
dark-skinned, light horse, will breed him on the uplands 
and in the more barren districts. The others, in the rich, 
fertile, and abundant meadows, with a more nutritious 
food, will apply themselves to the opposite type. 

Each will work in his own sphere ; the profits, losses, 
successes, and failures, will soon be summed up, and 
will soon become, on both sides, the object of minute com- 
parisons. If the light horse produce the most profit, his 
empire will soon extend over the domain of the heavy one. 

But if, on the day of reaction, it be recognized that this 
crossing is incapable of ever making a good omnibus, a 
good shaft, or a good team horse ; if the crossed breed 
be set aside for the primitive horse ; and if it come about 



THE PERCHERON HOESE. 75 

that the Percheron of pure race is better paid for, the 
fashion will soon return to him. There will the utility of 
the Stud-book be felt, for it will be by means of the fam- 
ilies preserved authentically pure, in the cantons which 
had chosen them, that it will alone become possible to re- 
mold a race, compromised in a moment of hasty judg- 
ment, and render it plentiful upon the market. 

It would suffice to bring together these types, and en- 
courage the start in order to reestablish Perche in all her 
glory. They might even, in the end, bring back to a 
good condition the lanky race that a better system, a more 
abundant nourishment, and more appropriate classification, 
would be called on to restore to its primitive form. Some 
generations would suffice to restore to it that homoge- 
neousness that it formerly possessed, when the post-service 
required of it its vigorous and swift mail-coach horses. 

In summing up, the Stud-book seems to me a useful 
agent in a triple point of view, namely : in the preserva- 
tion, perfection, and restoration of the Percheron breed. 



RECAPITULATION. 

Preserve the Percheron race as pure as possible from 
all mixture not perfectly homogeneous ; respect all its va- 
rieties due to the districts where they have been bred and 
raised ; improve by crossing the best types of the country, 
and in such a manner as to correct defects, while preserv- 
ing intact qualities and character. 

If it be necessary to give more style to the action, and 
more richness to the blood, ask these qualities of the Arab, 
which has the privilege of imparting style and tone, while 
preserving weight, hardihood, vigor, and docility. The 
Arabian is kind, intelligent, reliable, laborious, and easily 
kept. 



76 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

If, in obedience to urgent considerations, and in the ab- 
sence of oriental horses, it becomes necessary to have re- 
course to English blood, choose quarter-bred stallions — 
at the most half-bred — but of an ancient race, and well- 
confirmed, with a well-opened and expressive eye, fine ac- 
tion, high spirit, and especially a total absence of irrita- 
bility, and with all the appearances of honesty and apti- 
tude for work. 

For the innate defects of the English, generally impres- 
sible, suscejDtible, and unintelligent, cannot be too carefully 
guarded against. Delicate, a great eater, and requiring 
great care, he must, if honest, be well worked; if not, lie 
pays ill his cost, and robs the hand which nourishes him. 
He should always be selected from a working family, and 
be himself a free worker. He who wishes to embark in 
horse-breeding will avoid more than one shoal by observ- 
ing these simple considerations. 

The delicate English horse, fond of his manger, bearing 
but little continuous and monotonous work, requiring of 
those that have charge of him tact, mildness, and an ad- 
vanced equestrian education, is the horse of the rich man, 
and the man of pleasure, of the lover of the turf and chase, 
and of the wealthy farmer, who looks more to the beauty 
of his stock than to the quantity of its work. 

The Arabian, sober, energetic, and laborious, is the horse 
for the small proprietor, the soldier, and the laborer. He 
is the wealth of the poorer and less improved countries. 

The draft-horse is only suited to the farmer, and his size 
should be adapted not only to the district in which he is 
to be used, but also to the standard of cultivation of the 
country, and to the means of the person requiring his 
services. He may be improved, may be a trotter, and 
may be more stylish, but should always be adapted to the 
means of the breeder, and to the richness of the country. 
A large and fine animal would only vegetate in the hands 
of a person whose land is scarcely sufficient to support his 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 77 

family. He should only be owned by the wealthy farmer. 
And, on the other side, the latter should never raise his 
eyes to the blood horse, which should be left to those who 
have been a long time accustomed to the risks inseparable 
from his breeding and training. 

A final'word will make my thoughts better understood. 

I desire to speak of the financial question, which is 
every thing in breeding and in agriculture. The best and 
the only manner of considering this is to compare the 
breeder at the start, at the beginning of his career, and 
when his career is ended, to verify the results. This opera- 
tion is nothing short of a settlement of accounts. 

In my travels I became acquainted with two neighbor- 
ing districts. One was rich, fertile, and productive, emi- 
nently suited to breeding superior fancy horses. But 
they were poorly. raised therein ; the farmers disdained 
rearing horses suited to the soil, and the horses they did 
breed, already bad from the very start, were raised in idle- 
ness, and poorly fed, on account of their earning nothing. 
The other district was poor, and the soil produced only 
what could be wrested from it by force. However, by 
dint of labor, agriculture nourished. The horse, chosen with 
care, suited the country, worked well, and all prospered. 

The fancy struck me, to compare the settlements of 
estates in these two districts, and here are the results of 
this examination : 

In the first district, the breeders all commenced and en- 
tered upon their career with capital. Notwithstanding 
this, 18 out of 20 died over head and ears in debt. 

In the second, they were almost all former servants or 
farm hands, possessing only their savings, with which to 
establish themselves. In spite of these difficult begin- 
nings, 17 out of 20 left fortunes to their children, who, the 
reverse of the children of the former, were early accustom- 
ed to labor and to a regular life. It is useless to say that 
in these examples I always excepted the cases where 



78 THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 

trade, to carry on its business, sheltered itself under the 
cloak of the breeder ; for this does not constitute breed- 
ing any more than the trade in bread-stuffs carried on in 
a farm-house constitutes agriculture. 

Finally I would call the attention of the Percheron farmer 
to two suggestions. Suppose the supply of horses from 
the departments of Orne, Eure and Loir, Loir and Cher, 
Eure and Sarthe, and from the district of Mortagne, 
now amounting to about sixty thousand head, should 
outrun the demand of the omnibuses and wagons ; the 
remedy for this would be to aim at greater style and 
beauty, at the same time preserving the qualities required 
by the omnibuses and express companies. We would 
thus create another outlet for our stock, through the de- 
mands of the dealers in fancy horses, and the consumption 
of the army, and bring the Percheron race very near to 
perfection. 

No disappointment need be feared in crossing the Per- 
cheron with a foreign stallion, either a heavy Arabian, a 
strong, well-bred Merlerault, or a dark colored Norfolk, 
on the express condition that this stallion should be select- 
ed with care, and be of the best stock of his breed. The 
Arabian can be placed everywhere, both on poor land and 
in the hilly districts ; where the progeny of the other 
stallions would not thrive, his will succeed well. The get 
of the Merlerault, and of the English horses especially, re- 
quire the most fertile and the best cultivated districts. 

If the results of these crossings, male or female, be suc- 
cessful, they may be well employed in breeding, and, after 
some generations, in the districts where breeding is carried 
on with care, they may become the starting point of a 
choice stock. Commencing with the qualities of good 
and substantial post-horses, the Percheron could be elevat- 
ed to the dignity of the carriage-horse, and in other less 
fertile localities to staunch and compact hunters. 

Those showing no improvement, (too many of which 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 79 

are met with) would find a market open to them in the 
trade, among the moderately rich, and in the army, 
especially in the artillery. The males, when castrated 
at an early age, would be more acceptable to the trade, 
and, while ceasing to dishonor the privileged class and 
the class destined for reproduction, could be used for 
numerous purposes. For the gray horse the outlets are 
necessarily more limited. When the omnibuses and 
teamsters have taken their complement of 6,000 or 7,000 
horses, and when the foreigner has gathered up his 600 or 
700 choice specimens, there no longer remains a sufficient 
demand for the second-rate stock. 

As there now exist neither diligences, couriers, mail 
nor post-coaches, for which the gray Percheron was for- 
merly required for the night road service, there is no longer 
any imperious reason for preserving his old coat ; hence- 
forth he may be bay or dark colored. And, provided he 
becomes so by the aid of a dark-coated Arabian, or a heavy, 
well-bred Merlerault, or by a fine specimen of a Norfolk, 
the type of his race, I see therein no inconvenience. 

When steam machines, to supply the hands which are 
wanting, will plow our fields and perform the hardest 
work, we will have no longer to regret that our Percheron 
laborers have not the gray color which possessed the 
property of turning the scorching rays of the sun. One 
of our greatest writers, one of our lights in equestrian 
science, has, however, written : 

" The use of stallions of mixed blood, borrowed from 
foreign races, left but regrets in Perche. It has pro- 
duced vices of disposition and blemishes which did not 
belong to the Percheron horse, and has given him in ex* 
change no good quality. It has disturbed the structure 
of the progeny without any gain in form or endurance." 

Notwithstanding all my respect for this high authority, 
let me be allowed to ask him if he has ever seen the 
progeny, too rare it is true, of some well-chosen stallions 



80 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

in close affinity to Percheron blood, called Gall/'poli, 
Sandy, and Bayard? Never did finer results gratify the 
pride of a breeder, never did trotters drag heavy diligences 
with more power and ease, and never did sons transmit 
more faithfully to their descendants the image and charac- 
ters of their ancestors. Doubtless he was only shown the 
numerous and heterogeneous progeny of even the best full- 
blooded stallions iSylvio, Eylau, Meveller, and others by 
Percheron mares — crossings so surprising in their absence 
of affinity that I am still astonished that the thought of 
them ever entered a reasonable mind. 

When in the absence of stallions of our own, such as 
we wish, I advise the use of foreign ones, I do not give 
this counsel blindly, but, select the types appearing to me 
the best adapted to the purpose, and instead of proceeding 
with giant strides I would pursue the work with a patient 
and prudent slowness. 



PART III. 

INFORMATION TO STRANGERS WISHING TO BUY 
PERCHERON HORSES. 



Although I consider Perche an exceptional country for 
the production of good horses, I attribute to its air, to its 
water, and to the nutritiveness of its grasses, the admirable 
qualities of the animals bred therein. I am convinced that 
the excellent care, the wise management, exempt alike 
from pampering indulgence and from the harsh treatment 
which irritate the disposition, and from which the good 
teacher never departs in his intercourse with his pupils, 
contribute a great deal to the success of the result. Start- 
ing from this point, I think I can assert that with care 
and this identical management, horses can be elsewhere 
produced that Perche would not disown. It is, then, the 
recapitulation of this method and management which 
should be presented to the stranger desirous of raising 
the Percheron horse. I will tell him what the cultivator 
of this country does, and in doing like him, provided he 
make the attempt in a high, healthy district, a district 
with a sharp air and one often refreshed by winds, present- 
ing some analogy to the rugged hills and the excellent 
grassy valleys of Perche, no doubt he will arrive at magnif- 
icent results. Several suppositions may be presented to 
the consideration of the stranger wishing to raise Perche- 
ron horses. Either he should buy in Perche a mare in 
81 4* 



82 THE PEECHERO^ HOESE. 

foal, or purchase four or five months' old colts, which he 
wishes to wean in his own country, or his purchases will 
be made of yearlings, or, finally, he will carry with him 
full-grown males and females, or only one or the other 
sex for the purpose of breeding. 

Each one of these suj>positions can be determined by the 
practical knowledge of breeding, and by the study of the 
methods practised in Perche, and may suggest as many 
chapters. But, before undertaking anything, I will ask this 
amateur if he really loves the horse, and if he admits the 
qualities needed in thePercheron breeder. If he answers 
in the affirmative, I will enter upon the subject. If, on 
the contrary, he be not sure of himself and of the agents 
that he is to employ, I might as well throw aside my pen 
and not write another word. 

The disposition of the Percheron breeder towards his 
horses is that of a never-changing mildness ; and this is 
why his horse is so gentle and so docile. The Percheron 
loves his horse, but not with' an affection resembling that 
hearty passion, that sudden blaze of regard, too explosive 
to last long, of certain amateurs ; he loves the horse with 
an hereditary love, a family love, if I may so express it, 
and the horse, on his side, loves him hereditarily. The 
women and children have generally the care of the horse 
while the men are in the fields. Hence the even and ami- 
able temper of the horses raised under this system. The 
Percheron cultivator possesses, above all, great patience 
and a supreme control over himself, indispensable qualities 
in training young colts, which, if treated with harsh- 
ness would soon lose their heads, and become infallibly 
nervously timid if subjected to violence and impatience. 
Here lies the secret of good training and the art of uniting 
in the horse a cool and calm temper with a decided 
character. He is laborious and loves to stir the soil ; hence 
his practice of early working the colts, which renders 
them laborious and honest. But, as he is, above all, in- 



THE PEECHEEOX HOESE. 83 

telligent and loves in a rational way, he only requires of 
them work in proportion to their strength, and gives them 
good nourishment. This management, uniting work 
and good food, is an admirable means of giving strength, 
health, and a good constitution. Finally, the Percheron 
inhabits a broken country, where he must constantly 
ascend and descend. This circumstance is most favorable 
in giving strength and suppleness to his shoulders, 
haunches, and hoofs, which, by turns, work and rest in this 
unparalleled district. 

This portrait is not only applicable to the large proprie- 
tors and to the farmers, but to all the Percheron popu- 
lation. There is not a man in this district who has not 
been a working man, who has not raised, trained, and 
driven colts, and who, even in his tenderest age, when he 
could walk and hold a little whip, has not lived among 
the horses and played between their legs. It requires no 
searching here to find a man acquainted with the horse, a 
good farm hand ; the first face you meet with is that of 
an intelligent agent, and a trustworthy one in the difficult 
art of training colts. 

If you have such men at your disposal, undertake boldly 
your task ; but if the proper men are wanting, forbear, 
for you will arrive at nothing satisfactory. 



CHAPTER I. 

FOOD AND BREEDING. 

The stallion, in the districts inhabited by mares, is, with 
some rare exceptions, a " rover," — that is to say, he visits 
the farms at stated periods. His standing season lasts six 
months, from January to July, and he generally returns 



84 THE PEKCHEKOIsr HOUSE. 

four times to the same place. The foal is dropped, ordi- 
narily, very early, and always in the stable, where it con- 
stantly remains until weaning time. The dam goes to 
work every day, and leaves its foal each morning, to see it 
again only in the middle of the day, and at night. Green 
clover, or other green forage, is fed, to keep up her sup- 
ply of milk. 

At six months the colt is weaned. If it be a filly, it re- 
mains in the canton where it was foaled, to be put to 
breeding when it reaches the proper age. If it be a horse 
colt, it is sold to the farmers of the raising districts, of 
which we will speak in the chapter devoted to the trade. 

The stock of these districts is recruited from two 
sources, the southern region principally, (in the vicinity 
of Montdoubleau and Chateaudun,) on account of the 
great reputation of its mares. The cultivator desirous 
of rearing good colts traverses these districts as early as 
the month of June, and makes his choice of colts from 
under the dams, and out of herds of established reputation. 
This manner of selecting stock to raise is the most logical, 
as also the most expensive. It is much in favor with the 
farmer carrying on a large business, in the neighborhood 
of Mauves and Regmalard. Some cultivators of the other 
cantons follow his example ; but not so rich as he, they 
have but the second choice. 

The second source, and the most abundant, is the pur- 
chase of gnng colts — that is to say, those which, in Perche, 
have not been sold during the summer ; but principally 
those from the neighborhood of Coulie, to the north-west 
of Maus, and those of Lower Maine. They are brought, 
entirely weaned, to the fairs of Perche about the end of 
autumn. St. Andrew's fair at Mortagne offers a curious 
specimen of this operation. The farmers select from 
the gangs. The origin, in this case, is no longer of any 
account ; there is neither sire nor dam to weigh down the 
scales ; the merit is all exterior — of the individual. If this 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. ©O 

way of buying be not so dear, it is likewise not so sure, 
unless the purchaser be acquainted with honest dealers, 
accustomed to bring in only good colts. 

There is but little trouble taken in weaning the colts. 
This passage from one period of life to another, always 
so serious with thoroughbred colts, takes place quite sim- 
ply with the future field laborers. They wean themselves 
in the trip from their birthplace to their new destination. 
The farmers in the neighborhood of Rogmalard, who 
ordinarily buy them very young, give a little cow's milk 
on their arrival, to strengthen them, and to serve as a 
transition; but even this method is far from universal. 

The colts, when they come upon the farms, are put five 
or six together, pell-mell, into an indifferently ventilated 
stable, wmich receives its light through a lattice door. 
Their nourishment consists of a very thin mush, made of 
barley flour and bran, frequently renewed. The solid 
portion of their food is composed of dry clover and hay, 
with which their cribs are regularly filled. 

Some farmers feed aftermath, wdiich is sweeter ; but as 
this is apt to load the stomach, in order to render it more 
easily digested, it is mixed with oat-straw. 

It is very rare that these colts, changed from one district 
to another, often making long stages, and exposed to the in- 
clemencies of the weather, are not attacked with strangles. 
Many raisers at this period have the pernicious habit of 
giving them some kind of grain, in order to warm them up, 
and cause them to throw off the disease. But this food 
has the fault of thickening the blood too much, and ex- 
poses them to numerous ailments. 

This diet is continued until the spring, at which time 
the colts are given green fodder in the stable. Later, 
they are turned into the clover fields after the first cut, or 
into the meadows after they are mowed. 

At eighteen months they commence their apprentice- 
ship ; passing their necks through the collar, they are har- 



86 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

nessed to plows or wagons with horses already broken, 
although of an age at which, in many countries, their 
equals are as yet ignorant of all labor. The food, com- 
posed of clover principally, hay, millet straw, corn salad, 
(Feticus,) and cracked rye, baked in loaves, becomes 
from this time forth, a little more nourishing. They also 
commence to eat oats, but as yet, sparingly. This is not 
given them pure, but with the chaff — that is to say, it is 
not winnowed. The quantity of this food used by day 
is not less than J;-J to If gallons, yielding not much more 
than ^ of a gallon of oats. On the other hand, the meal 
and the mush are increased, to give them body and strength. 
At thirty months old they are still kept upon this food, 
in the midst of all the farm work, which they daily per- 
form (with, however, a great deal of moderation), and in 
dragging very light burdens ; for, truly, it is but a train- 
ing, to confirm the hereditary mildness of their character, 
and to teach them, little by little, to become willing and 
fearless. 

In the meanwhile the dealer, who roams constantly 
about among the farms, arrives. He buys and resells im- 
mediately to the farmers of Little Perche and Thimerais. 
More stimulating feed is given them, in consequence of 
more constant and harder work. This life lasts a year, 
and is terminated by the passage into Beauce, or the Char- 
tres country, where their work is again increased. With 
the work the feed increases, and this combination leads to 
the perfection of the horse. 

It is at this time that the horses, having attained their 
maturity, and the maximum of their strength, are bought 
for Paris, whither they are called by relentless labor, which 
they are enabled to endure by their unconquerable will, 
great muscular force, energy, and courage. 

" This mode of training," to borrow the words of a 
noted breeder, " represents the division of labor, which 
gives such happy results in the manufactories, and its ad- 



THE PERCHEKON HOESE. 87 

vantages cannot be well appreciated, except by those 
who, having raised horses, know what embarrassment an 
assemblage of colts of all sizes and ages produces. Un- 
fortunately it would be very difficult to introduce this 
excellent custom elsewhere, which has probably existed 
for ages in Perche without the knowledge of its source." 

The colts destined for breeding are generally devoted to 
this purpose at the age of two years, and continue, on 
an average, until they have attained the age of four. I 
speak of Little Perche, for in Great Perche, since the 
foundation of the Equestrian Society, the seat of which is 
at Chateaudun, and which extends its action to quite a 
distance, the covering is done by adult stallions. At four, 
they are sold either to Paris, or to foreigners, should their 
merit render them worthy of such a choice. 

This total emigration of the male colts at the a^e of 
six months, renders it very difficult to procure good stal- 
lions of this breed. From Great Perche they are scattered 
among the trade, often before the age of a sure selection. 
When they are sought after in Perche, they are no longer 
to be found ; they must then be followed and hunted up 
on the Beauce farms, and this pursuit is extremely difficult. 
It, however, offers greater chances of success than the 
Chartres market, where the greatest number of mature 
Percheron horses are to be found. 

As for the fillies, their experience is the same as that of 
the colts, with this single difference that their life is 
exempt from migration. They are raised in the region 
in which they are foaled. They work from a very early 
period, bear two or three colts, and then disappear, 
like the males, in the vortex of consumption. For, 
beyond some exceptional cases and remarkable pro- 
ductions, it is rare that they grow old upon the farm. 
The former, in order to lose nothing of their value, sen^s 
them off at the age of five, six, and seven years. It would 
be a happy thing, as we have already said, if sufficient in- 



88 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

ducements in the way of prizes could be offered to retain 
the fine breeding mares upon the soil, and put an end to 
this custom, so inimical to progress. 

The farmers who have pasture grounds, as in the en- 
virons of Regmalard, make use of them for raising their 
colts, as is done in Merlerault and in the Auge Valley. 
Instead of letting them loose in the fields, they are sent 
to pasture. 

The hay of the valleys is good, but insufficient for the 
supply of the farms ; the deficit is made up by the use of 
artificial fodders, in which clover enters for three-quarters ; 
the remainder is composed of fenugreek, lucern, and some 
roots. Millet, or barley and oat straw are also given 
as food, and in certain cantons they are stacked in alter- 
nate layers with the meadow grass, in order to give them 
the odor and fragrance of hay — an ingenious method of 
making an unattractive food acceptable. 

The stables, although much better than formerly, in the 
good old times of the race, still leave a great deal to be 
desired. They are not furnished with stalls, but the 
horses are tied alongside of one another without any 
separation. But such is the gentleness of character of 
this breed that an accident was never heard of. 

The whole of the management which we have just de- 
scribed has a marked tendency towards constantly en- 
larging the horse at the expense of his nervous system. 

This diet, completely out of place in a mild, grain pro- 
ducing country, has reason for existing in Perche, and the 
Percheron cultivator knows too well what he does in em- 
ploying it, not to have understood this. The climate and 
the products of Perche, the air and the water, affect too 
exclusively the nervous system not to require being con- 
stantly combatted. 

For this I desire to take an example in the whole animal 
kingdom stocking this country. Everybody to-day well 
knows the influence of climate upon animals. No one 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 89 

now any longer doubts that it is to the sharp and healthy 
air of the Perch eron country, to its elevated hills, and to 
its atmosphere constantly renewed by the powerful ven- 
tilators of its valleys and forests, that this country owes 
the eminent qualities of its fine race of horses, which has 
won for it the right of displaying this significant title : 
"Perche, the land of good horses." Everything surround- 
ing us inclines us to adopt this opinion. The domestic 
animals brought here are transformed in a short time by 
the contact of the air breathed and the nourishment 
furnished. The marked types of the Billot and Creve- 
coeur fowls are no sooner brought here than at the first 
generation a total change is effected in their looks. From 
the second generation it is difficult to recognize them in 
the thin, lean, and nervously formed fowl, with a wild 
look, and always ready to take wing. 

The bovine race of Perche is also far inferior to the im- 
proved race. It is the opposite of the kind prized nowa- 
days, the race which is mild, lymphatic, and short-legged, 
always inclined to fat, and having in its bony frame only 
just enough to serve it for its locomotion, forming a 
quadrilateral of flesh, mounted on four small legs, a rump 
bending with its haunches, a broad, smooth back, and a 
low brisket. Its horns, which are seemingly useless in a 
country from which man has driven out the wild beasts, 
fall overlapping one another, like a useless ornament, upon 
the head. 

Such is not the Percheron breed of cattle ; on the con- 
trary it is dry and bony, of a nervous temperament, long 
legs, angular haunches, contracted chest, lank thigh,and thin 
neck, with a long, thin head. Two long horns of a greenish- 
white stand up in the air, always threatening as in a savage 
country, infested with dangerous animals. An expressive 
word designates them fully : a cattle dealer will tell you 
they are "staggy" and will pass on without bestowing upon 
them a glance. They are hardly fit for quick fattening, 



90 THE PERCHEKON HORSE. 

and are recognized without trouble by their color, which 
in terms of the trade is said to be " a little weak" and by 
their skin, which is dry and harsh. The dealers appro- 
priately express their condition by " no good points." 
The bulls, especially, are tough, with bighorns, bony Jimbs, 
large joints, an ugly head, and the whole difficult to fatten, 
which well entitles them to the full application of the 
epithet " boorish beasts" invented to express animals of 
inferior quality. 

It is in vain that Maine, the district which joins it, has 
given to Perche its race of cattle ; they have degenerated, 
have become taller, lanker, less easy to fatten, and have pre- 
served no trace of the fine head and the good fore-quarters 
that are to be found in Maine. In vain has Normandy pour- 
ed out a generous blood. The Norman type hardly 
appears ; it is degenerated and entirely loses the agree- 
able color, fine head, good limbs, white horns, and other 
good points. 

For several years, the fashion of crossing with the 
Cotentin race has become universal, and continues to make 
rapid progress. From the second generation, nevertheless, 
there remains almost nothing in the conformation and in 
the quality of the stock to show the cross. It is only by 
dint of always crossing with the Cotentin that Perche has 
been able to make for itself her present passable stock. 

The sheep, sufficiently delicate for the table, are small, 
and form a degenerate and nameless mixture of the breeds 
of Maine, Caux, and Trennes, crossed for several years 
back with the Merino. They present the same conditions 
as the horned animals. Like them, they are difficult to 
fatten and are not lymphatic, notwithstanding the fre- 
quent importations of the heavier and fleshier breeds. 

Such predispositions can only come from the soil, and 
the constant sway of the nervous over the lymphatic 
system produces all the qualities of the Percheron horse. 
This is why tradition has painted such a seductive picture 



THE PERCHEEON HORSE. 91 

of his construction and qualities. This is why the old in- 
habitants, who had seen that fine breed before its degen- 
eration, speak of it with so much warmth. This is why, 
notwithstanding the incredible crossings, it has withstood 
such mixtures. And this is why it is always energetic, in 
spite of the diluted nourishment without tonic properties 
which is given it, and which would be enough to bastardize 
a race with characteristics less fixed and permanent. 

Let us, however, beware of utterly condemning the 
management of the breeders, and let us not entangle, 
with an imprudent hand, the threads of his traditions. 
The horse is his sole fortune, and in the raising of this aid 
of his agricultural labors, he gains to-day his livelihood. 
His management has a fixed end to which he always tends 
with an incredible perseverance, and that is to increase 
the size of his horses without prejudice to their good 
qualities. 

Now that the country is covered with excellent roads 
and highways ; that railways have accustomed us to great 
speed ; that diligences and mail-coaches are forever gone ; 
that the stylish carriage horse, the hunter, and the half- 
blood, have reached great perfection, the role of the Per- 
cheron is completely changed. He is no longer the hunter, 
the saddle-horse, nor the motive power of heavy wagons 
over new and broken roads ; he remains exclusively both 
the quick and mettlesome draft-horse, and the heavy 
burden and express wagon horse. He must possess superior 
strength, speed, docility, temper, and honesty, and a com- 
plete absence of irritability. It is for this reason that 
after having listened to enthusiastic advisers, and allowed 
himself to be led astray by men too eager to enjoy the 
result of their ideas, he to-day is no longer to be cajoled 
by the solicitations of the amateurs of foreign blood. 
The Perch eron cultivator does not wish even a single 
drop of it, and exerts himself exclusively in producing 
heavy horses. Encouraged in this way by the dealers of 



92 THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 

all countries, paying excessively high prices for the big 
and heavy Percheron horse, while leaving upon his hands, 
without the offer of a farthing, the horse in which a few 
drops of a blood " can be perceived, he has spread his sails 
and stretched them boldly to catch the breeze of the day. 

We shall carefully avoid following the example of 
numerous famous doctors, the display of our little bundle 
of receipts. Let it be, however, permitted us to touch 
again slightly upon the question in expressing the fear 
that, should he not take care, the breeder of heavy horses 
will in the end render them too heavy and weighty. 
Stallions having a small touch of blood, well applied, and 
sufficiently latent not to excite mistrust, having action, 
good limbs, strong loins, and deep chest, are indispensable 
for warming up the Percheron blood and giving it tone. 
Look at Sandy, and afterwards at Collin, Bayard, and 
some others whose influence was immense. Their progeny, 
magnificent in every respect, did not show too much blood 
in their exterior, but revealed it vigorously by action and 
high spirit. The crosses which have best succeeded with 
the Percheron are undoubtedly, as shown by numerous 
examples, those derived themselves from an oriental cross. 
This fact, which clearly proves that the Percheron race 
has a great affinity with the race of the desert, should not 
be neglected in foreign alliances. 

As for the English alliances, these have not given as 
yet all the results promised ; but from this nothing must 
be inferred against new trials. Too much blood had con- 
stantly been used, and consequently the end was missed 
by wishing to proceed too rapidly. 

Little blood, at first, but blood well chosen, from the 
Norfolk race, blood patiently infused into Percheron veins, 
is the means of triumphing over old prejudices and open- 
ing to this country an extensive and successful future. 



I 'li 
SI ^ f: f 

\ W I I !! 

i ; ii,H 







II 

I 'I' 



THE PERCHERON HORSE. 93 



CHAPTER H. 

TRADE. — GLANCE AT THE MOST CELEBRATED BREEDING 
PLACES. 

The good horses arc generally bought upon the farms, 
and among these the dealers are constantly roaming. The 
trade of the whole of France, and the numerous and in- 
telligent amateurs from abroad, visit them carefully, beat- 
ing the country and searching it in all its farthest corners. 
Still, notwithstanding the purchases there made, the fairs 
are not wanting in numerous and good animals. We will, 
like these strangers, run over the best breeding places. 

As an equine country, " Perche, the land of good 
horses," is divided into three very distinct districts. 

That in which the colts are foaled — stocked exclusively 
with mares and fillies ; 

The district in which the male colts are weaned and 
raised ; 

And that in which they are brought to perfection — a 
privilege which it shares with Beauce and the Chartres 
country which it bounds. 

All the territory north, west, and south, of the district 
of Mortagne (Orne) comprising the cantons of Moulins, 
Bazoche, Pervencheres, Bellesme, Theil, and part of Noce, 
possesses breeding mares as well as fillies. In Sarthe, 
the canton of Montmirail ; those of Montdoubleau and 
Droue in Loir-and-Cher ; those of Alluye, Bazoche, Cloyes, 
Authon, Brou, and Nogent-le-Rotrou, in Eure-and-Loir, are 
likewise centers where only fillies and breeding mares are 
to be met with. Courtalain, on the south border, is also 
celebrated for this specialty. 

The raising of male-colts occupies all the east, center, 
and north of the district of Mortagne — that is to say, the 
cantons of Mortagne, Tourouvre, Lougny, Regmalard, 



94 TKE PERCHERON" HORSE. 

and part of Noce. This division, however, is not always 
distinctly marked upon the borders. The parishes upon 
the confines of each district, such as Bazoches, Cour- 
geoust, Pin, Saint-Ouen, Noce, Berclluis, etc., have farms 
stocked exclusively with fillies, whilst others possess only 
stallion colts. 

The region for the mares is itself divided into two can- 
tons: that of the north and that of the south. The 
southern is the most renowned, inasmuch as its mares 
pass for having retained the characters of the old Per- 
cheron race more closely. It comprises the cantons outside 
the district of Mortagne. Montdoubleau is the capital. 

The northern, enclosed in the district of Mortagne, 
counts three very distinct varieties, namely : 

The pure Percheron races in the south, and in the can- 
ton of Bazoches ; in the west, in the parishes which 
border on Mesle-sur-Sarthe, mares possessing in various 
degrees some of English blood, got from the government 
stud of Mesle-sur-Sarthe, which is composed exclusively 
of thoroughbred stallions ; the canton of Moulins, in the 
north, nourishes another high-spirited variety, endowed 
with excellent action, but deficient in height. According- 
ly it is more valued for furnishing good horses for service 
than for furnishing ameliorating types. 

The best centers for stallion colts are: Regmalard, 
which is, if I may so say, the principal place for good 
stallions ; Mauves, which furnished, thirty years ago, the 
famous stallion Jean-le-Blanc, of M. Miard. For fillies, 
Villers-en-Ouche, which stocked this country with magnif- 
icent Percheron mares ; Verrieres, Corbon, Comblot, 
Courgeou, Loisail, Peveillon and Villiers. 

As for the rest of Perche, it supplies Beauce and the 
Chartres country, on account of the great similarity 
existing between them. A country of transition, it buys 
colts to plow the fields, keeps them only a year, and sells 
them grown to the cultivators of Beauce, to be sent to 



THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 95 

Paris after a sojourn of a year or so upon their farms. 
The environs of Courville — Chateauneuf, Brezolies, La 
Loupe, Champroud, Thiron, Pontgouin, Verneuil, etc. — 
are celebrated for the taste of its farmers for fine horses. 
Illiers, which formerly possessed this specialty, has occu- 
pied itself for several years in weaning colts. 



CHAPTER ni. 

SPEED AND BOTTOM OF THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

We have said that one of the distinctive qualities of 
the Perch eron horse, and one which has won for him uni- 
versal esteem, was fast trotting while drawing a heavy 
load. It would be, however, an error to suppose that this 
faculty of fast trotting puts him on a level with the blood- 
horse. The latter draws little, it is true ; but he has a 
long stride, and, as regards mere speed, he beats the 
Percheron out and out. For the presence upon the turf 
of such horses as Decidee and Sarah, who have trotted 
against blood-horses of the first order, sometimes honora- 
bly beaten and more often victorious, the presence, I say, 
of such horses, is but a happy and rare exception. 

The specialty of the Percheron, quick draft, has then 
its limits, and it is these limits that I wish to make known 
by means of numerous examples collected with care. 

What the Percheron has done in the diligences, mail 
and post-coaches is known to everybody ; and it is useless 
to repeat it. From one relay to another, never dragging 
less than two, and more often three thousand pounds, in 
hot weather and cold, and over hilly, difficult roads, he 
made his three leagues to the hour easily, and sometimes 



96 THE PEECHEKO^ HORSE. 

four; but this was the " ne plus ultra " beyond which it 
was not reasonable to go. 

What he does in the omnibuses, the world that visits 
Paris realizes and admires. And this is one of the principal 
attractions of the Percheron horse to the intelligent 
stranger. 

It now only remains for us to follow him upon the turf 
and sum up the time made in the trots won by him. 

The courses, for some time frequented by him, are those 
of Illiers, Courtalain, Montdoubleau, and Mortagne ; and 
here he is always to be found. It is, also, indispensable to 
notice, in order to be strictly impartial, that these tracks, 
except the new one at Mortagne, finished two years ago, 
were only plowed fields, hard in dry weather, but cut up 
like a peat-bog in wet times ; that the track of Mor- 
tagne, as is well known, is placed on a steep side-hill, and 
joins to the above defect the one of offering three steep 
inclines, up and down, like the roof of a house, within a 
distance of 3,000 feet. The horses which had done the 
best elsewhere failed on this track, and took a long time 
to make the distance. It is to this circumstance that is to 
be attributed the low average time, but it is this also 
which shows us the courage of the Percheron. When a 
colt of thirty months (and of these there were a number) 
had bravely accomplished his task and had gone two or 
three times around this killing track, it could be boldly 
predicted that there was in him the making of a staunch 
and valuable horse. To all this let us add, that either un- 
der saddle or in harness, the Percheron is almost always 
placed in an unfavorable situation. Mounted, he is put 
into the hands of a youth, ardent, without experience, and 
without calculation, who pushes him without discretion in 
the beginning, and is totally ignorant of the jockey's art. 
Harnessed, he is covered with heavy and inconvenient 
gear, and he drags either a big, heavy-running wagon, 
or a poor, low traveling-tilbury. 



THE PERCHERON HORSE. 97 

The following list shows the result of 196 trotting 
matches, officially reported upon the turf, and two trials 
to prove bottom, likewise certified with care, and will give 
an average of what the Percheron is capable of doing 
either upon rugged, cut-up, or hilly tracks, or upon the 
highways of a densely populated district. 



CHAPTER IV. 

SPEED OE THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

MOUNTED PERCHERONS. 
1^ MILES 29 RESULTS. 

The best two are those of Julie, at Montdoubleau, in 
186-1, time 3 minutes 50 seconds; and of Godius, at the 
same place, in 1857, time 3 minutes 58 seconds. 

The poorest two results are those of Vidocq, at Mor- 
tagne, 1865, time 7 minutes 37 seconds ; and of Lansque- 
net, same place, in 1861, time 7 minutes 48 seconds. 

The average time of 29 recorded trials is about 4 min- 
utes 12^ seconds. 

If MILES 31 RESULTS. 

The best two are those of Vaillante, at Mortagne, in 
1864, time 4 minutes 38 seconds ; and of Julie, at Mont- 
doubleau, in 1864, time 6 minutes 14 seconds. 

The poorest two are those of Mouche, at Mortagne, in 
1855, time 9 minutes 18 seconds ; and of Biche, at Mor- 
tagne, in 1855, time 8 minutes 30 seconds. 

The average time of 31 trials is about 6 minutes 40 
seconds. 
5 



98 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

2 MILES 40 RESULTS. 

The best two are those of Cocotte, at Illiers, in 1861, 
time 6 minutes 5-J- seconds ; and of Sarah, at the same 
place, in 1865, time 6 minutes 2 seconds. 

The poorest two are those of Balzane, at Illiers, in 
1859, time 9 minutes 40 seconds ; and of Benaud, at the 
same place, in 1850, time 10 minutes 30 seconds. 

The average time of 40 trials is about 7 minutes 20 
seconds. 

2|- MILES 65 RESULTS. 

The best two are those of Sarah, at Langou, in 1865, 
time 7 minutes 35 seconds ; and of the same at Mortagne, 
in 1865, time 7 minutes 40 seconds. 

The poorest two are those of Marmotte, at Mortagne, 
in 1865, time 13 minutes 26 seconds; and of Julie, at 
Courtalain, in 1863, time 11 minutes 30 seconds. 

The average time of 65 trials is about 9 minutes 15 
seconds. 



2j miles were made at Illiers, by Bichette, in 1860, in 12 
minutes 15 seconds. 

2f miles at the same place were made three times, and 
gave an average of 11 minutes 25 seconds. 

3f miles at the same place were made by Champion, in 
1857, in 12 minutes. 

HARNESSED PERCHERONS. 

|« of a mile was trotted to harness in 1855, at Bethune, 
by Grise, in 4 minutes 2 seconds. 

1\ miles were made at Mortagne, in 1856, by Battrape, 
in 5 minutes 4 seconds. 



THE PERCHERON HORSE. 99 

2 MILES 8 RESULTS. 

The best two are those of Achille, at Illiers, in 1865, 
time 7 minutes 17 seconds ; and of Julie, at Illiers, in 
1863, time 7 minutes 40^- seconds. 

The poorest two are those of Championnet, at Illiers, 
1858, time 7 minutes 53 seconds ; and of Bichette, at Il- 
liers, in 1849, time 8 minutes 13 seconds. 

The average of eight trials is about 7 minutes 36 sec- 
onds. 

2 1 MILES 14 RESULTS. 

The best two are those of Vigoreux, at Illiers, in 1851, 
time 8 minutes 30 seconds ; and of JBibi, at Mortagne, in 
1865, time 9 minutes 54 seconds. 

The poorest two are those of Bichette, at Courtalain, 
in 1860, time 11 minutes 30 seconds ; and of Artagnan, 
at Mortagne, in 1850, time 11 minutes 55 seconds. 

2§ MILES LOADED. 

Two trials were made at Rouen, by Decidee : 
The first time in 1864, drawing 386 pounds, 2f miles in 
9 minutes 21 seconds ; the second time, in 1865, drawing 
408 pounds the same distance, 10 minutes 49 seconds. 



CHAPTER V. 

ENDURANCE OF THE PERCHERON HORSE. 

A gray mare bred by M. Beaulavoris, at Almenesches, 
(Orne), in 1845, belonging to M. Montreuil, horse dealer 
at Alencon, performed the following match : — Harnessed 
to a traveling-tilbury, she started from Bernay at the 
same time as the mail courier from Rouen to Bordeaux, 



100 THE PERCHEEOItf HORSE. 

and arrived before it at Alencon, having made 55| miles 
over a hilly and difficult road, in 4 hours and 24 minutes. 

This mare is still living, and now belongs to M. Buis- 
son, hotel keeper at the sign of the White Horse, at Lees, 
(Orne), where she still draws the omnibus plying between 
the railroad station and the hotel. 

A gray mare 7 years old, belonging to M. Consturier, 
of Fleury-sur-Andelle, (Eure), in 1864, harnessed to a til- 
bury, travelled 58 miles and back on two consecutive 
days, going at a trot and without being touched with the 
whip. This was over the road from Lyons-la-Foret from 
Pont Audemer, and back, a difficult and hilly way. The 
following time was made: The first day the distance was 
trotted in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 35 seconds ; the second 
day, in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 30 seconds. The 13f last 
miles were made in one hour, although at about the 41st 
mile the mare was obliged to pass her stable to finish the 
distance. 



GARDENING FOR PROFIT, 

In the Market and Family Grarden. 
By Peter Henderson. 

finely illustrated. 

This is the first work on Market Gardening ever published m this 
country. Its author is well known as a market gardener of eighteen 
years' successful experience. In this work he has recorded this 
experience, and given, without reservation, the methods necessary 
to the profitable culture of the commercial or 

MARKET GARDEN. 

It is a work for which there has long been a demand, and ono 
which will commend itself, not only to those who grow vegetables 
for sale, but to the. cultivator of the 

FAMILY GAKDEN, 

to whom it presents methods quite different from the old ones gen- 
erally practiced. It is an original and purely American work, and 
not made up, as books on gardening too often are, by quotations 
from foreign authors. 

Every thing is made perfectly plain, and the subject treated in all 
its details, from the selection of the soil to preparing the products 
for market. 

CONTENTS. 

Men fitted for the Business of Gardening. 

The Amount of Capital Required, and 

"Working Force per Acre. 

Profits of Market Gardening. 

Location, Situation, and Laying Out. 

Boils, Drainage, and Preparation. 

Manures, Implements. 

Uses and Management of Cold Frames. 

Formation and Management of Hot-beda. 

Forcing Pits or Green-houses. 

Seeds and Seed Raising. 

How, "When, and Where to Sow Seeds. 

Transplanting, Insects. 

Packing of Vegetables for Shipping. 

Preservation of Vegetables in "Winter. 

Vegetables, their Varieties and Cultivation. 

In the last chapter, the most valuable kinds are described, and 
the culture proper to each is given in detail. 

Sent post-paid, price $1.30. 
ORANGE JUBD & CO,, U§ Broadway, Few-Yor& 



NEW AND BEAUTIFUL "WORK. 






BY 



JOSIAH HOOPES, Westchester, Pa. 



INCLUDING 



Propagation, Cultivation, Description of Varieties, and 
their Adaptability to Different Situations. 



This is a long-needed work, as in it the present state of our knowledge 
npon the cone-bearing plants, or Coniferae of the botanist, is posted up. Mr. 
Hoopes is one of those persons rarely met with — a practical cultivator, and a 
man of science at the same time. While his work gives us all the Coniferae 
arranged in the classification of the botanist, it at the same time treats of the 
experience, not only of the author, but of American cultivators generally, 
with this large and important family of plants. 

Evergreens play so interesting a part, not only in ornamental planting, but 
in what may be termed economical planting, (i. e. hedges, screens, wind- 
breaks, etc.,) that we are sure a work which treats of their propagation and 
culture, describes in both popular and scientific language the many species, 
and, what is of not the least importance, gives a list of the tender and un- 
reliable ones, will be warmly welcomed by every lover of these beautiful 
trees. 

Mr. Hoopes brings to his work a perfect enthusiasm for his subject, and 
is as free to condemn a plant as if he were not a nurseryman. All the latest 
novelties from Japan, the Northwest, etc., are noticed, and their success or 
failure, both in this country and in England, is recorded. 

The work is abundantly illustrated with most carefully executed engrav- 
ings, for the greater part from living specimens. 

We must commend the conscientious care the author has shown in striving 
to arrive at the proper names ; and doubtless much of the confusion that at 
present exists in respect to names among both dealers and growers, will be 
corrected now that they have a standard work to refer to. 

Not the least interesting portion of the book is an account of the principal 
collections of evergreens in the country. 

The work contains 435 pages, 12mo, on fine paper. 

Sent post-paid Price, $3.00. 

ORANGE JliDD & CO., 

245 Broadway, New-York City. 



VALUABLE AND BEAUTIFUL WORK. 



HAERIS' 

Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 

BY THE IiATE 

THADDEUS WILLIAM HARRIS, M.D. 

A New Edition, enlarged and improved, with additions from the author's 
manuscripts and original notes. 
Illustrated by engravings drawn from nature under the supervision of 

PROFESSOR AGASSIZ. 

Edited by CHARLES L. FLINT, 

Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture. 

COMTENTS. 
CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION.— Insects Defined— Brain and Nerves— Air-Pipes and Breath- 
ing-Holes—Heart and Blood— Metamorphoses or Transformations — 
Classification ; Orders and Groups. 

CHAPTER II. 

COLEOPTERA — Beetles— Scarabaeians— Ground-Beetles— Tree-Beetles— Cock- 
chafers— Flower, Stag, Spring, Timber, Capricorn, Leaf-mining, and Tor- 
toise Beetles— Chrysomelians — Cantharides. 

CHAPTER III. 

ORTHOPTERA.— Earwigs — Cockroaches-- Soothsayers — Walking-sticks or 
Spectres— Mole, Field, Climbing, and Wingless Crickets— Grasshoppers- 
Katydid— Locusts. 

CHAPTER IV. 

HEMIPTERA.— Bugs— Squash-Bug— Clinch-Bug— Plant Bugs— Harvest Flies— 
Tree-Hoppers — Vine-Hoppers — Plant-Lice— American Blight— Bark-Lice. 

CHAPTER V. 

LEPIDOPTERA.— Caterpillars— Butterflies — Skippers— Hawk-Moths— JEge- 
rians or Boring Caterpillars — Moths— Cut-Worms— Span-Worms — Leaf- 
Rollers— Fruit, Bee, Corn, Clothes, and Feather- Winged Moths. 

CHAPTER VI. 

HYMENOPTERA.— Stingers and Piercers— Saw-Flies and Slugs— Elm, Fir, 
and Vine Saw-Fly — Rose-Bush and Pear-Tree Slugs — Horn-Tailed 
Wood- Wasps — Gall-Flies— Barley Insect and Joint Worm. 

CHAPTER VII. 

D1PTERA.— Gnats and Flies— Maggots and their Transformations— Gail 
Gnats— Hessian, Wheat, and Radish Flies— Two-Winged Gall-Flies, an<* 
Fruit-Flies. 
APPENDIX.— The Army Worm. 

Published in two beautiful editions ; one plain, with steel engravings, 8vo, 
extra cloth, $4 ; the other in extra cloth, beveled boards, red edges, engrav- 
ings colored with great accuracy, $6. 
Sent post-paid on receipt of price. 

ORANGE JUDD & CO., 

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DARWIN'S NEW WORK, 



THE VARIATION 



ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



UNDER DOMESTICATION. 

BT 

CHARLES DARWIN, MI. A., E.R.S., ETC. 

AUTHORIZED EDITION. 

BT 

PROFESSOR ASA GRAY. 

IIST TWO VOLUMES. 

This work treats of the variations in our domestic animals and cultivated 
plants, discussing the circumstances that influence these variations, inherit- 
ance of peculiarities, results of in-and-in breeding, crossing, etc. 

It is one of the most remarkable books of the present day, presenting an 
array of facts that show the most extraordinary amount of observation and 
-esearch. All the domestic animals, from horses and cattle to canary-birds and 
noney-bees, are discussed, as well as our leading culinary and other plants, 
making it a work of the greatest interest. 

Its importance to agriculturists, breeders, scientific men, and the general 
reader will be seen by its scope as indicated in the following partial enumera- 
tion of its contents : Pigs, Cattle, Sheep, Goats ; Dogs and Cats, Horses 
and Asses ; Domestic Rabbits ; Domestic Pigeons ; Fowls, Ducks, Geese, 
Peacock, Turkey, Guinea Fowl, Canary-bird, Gold-fish; Hive-bees; 
Silk-moths. Cultivated Plants ; Cereal and Culinary Plants ; Fruits, 
Ornamental Trees, Flowers, Bud Variation. Inheritance, Reversion 
or Atavism, Crossing. On the Good Effects of Crossing, and on the 
Evil Effects of Close Interbreeding. Selection. Causes of Variabil- 
ity, Laws of Variation, etc, eto. 

Published in Two Volumes of nearly 1100 pages. 

FINELY ILLUSTRATED. 
SENT POST-PAID PRICE, $6.00. 

ORANGE JXJDD & CO., 

245 Broadway, New -York City 



AMERICAN POMOLOGY 
APPLES. 

Hy Doct. JOHN A. WAKDEE, 

rusnmkr Ohio pomoloo.cm. society; Ytcz-PBSsio.aT ™m pokowbimi 

SOCIETY. 

893 IM-USTRATIOJfS. 

This volume has about 750 pages, the first 375 of which are de 
»„ted to the discussion of the geueral subjects of propagat.o£ . our 
sery culture, selection and planting, cultivation «?*%£>££ 
fruit, insects, and the like ; the remainder » occupied w.th descnp 
ton of apples. With the richness of mater.al at band, he trouble 
wa to dedde what to leave out. It will be found that whde he 
Id and standard varieties are not neglected, the new and promising 
^especially those of the South and West, have P™™nenee. 
A list of selectLs for different localities by eminent orchardists .s 
fvalu-able portion of the volume, while the Analytical Index or 
^XueFlonnK as the French would say, is the ^most e^nde d 
American fruit list ever published, and gives evidence of a %aifu! 
amount of labor. 

CONTENTS. 

«•..«>».. I —INTRODUCTORY. 

Chapter II -HISTORY OP THE AFFILE. 

Chapter ™-^»f^™^^ H ™* 

Chapter IV. -DWARFING. 

ltll\Tr i'H^fo-o^r^R^ ORCHARD- 
SKSS to£S£E35o5 «» pitting. 

i ?^ssssar« pr™. 

S£«£ SSSS5SS-A-D PROVING FRISTS. 

c ft apu,xvn.-,R|S------ *» IKDEX °* 

B x t> ./ Price $3.00. 

Sent Post-Paii 

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THE AMERICAN 



FOR 1888. 



.A. Year-Book 
Wanted "by Everybody. 

This volume is now ready, and contains much of interest to 
every agriculturist. Besides the~general record of agricultural 
progress, it has a valuable article on 

Factory ©airy Practice, 

By Gardner B. Weeks, Esq., Secretary of the American Dairy- 
men's Association, in which he discusses the reasons for the best 
practice and the most approved apparatus, buildings, etc., fully il- 
lustrated, and is equally interesting to the practical dairyman and 
to tha novice. • 

Sewers and Eartli-CIosets 

In tlieir relations to Agriculture, by Col. Geo. E. Waring, Jr. 
Winter Wlieat, 

Describing, with engravings, new and valuable varieties by Joseph 
Harris and John Johnston ; an article upon 

Scytne§ and Cradles, 

By John W. Douglas, (fully illustrated ;) also articles on Horse- 
Breaking and on Bitting Colts, by Sam'l F. Headly, Esq., (il- 
lustrated;) on Recent Progress in Agricultural Science, by Prof 
S. W. Johnson ; on Commercial Fertilizers, Veterinary Medicine 
and Jurisprudence, Progress of Invention Affecting Agriculture, 
Valuable Tables for Farmers and others, etc. 

It is intended that the work shall be practical, excellent in the 
beauty of its illustrations, and in its adaptation to the wants of 
American Farmers, superior to anything of the kind heretofore 
published. 

In its general features it is like the Agricultural Annual for 1887, 
containing an Almanac and Calendar, and there will be added a 
list of dealers in Agricultural Implements, Seeds, etc. Sent post- 
paid. Price, fancy paper covers, 50 cts. ; cloth, 75 cts. 

OEAHGE JTJDD & CO., 

245 Broadway, New-York- 



THE AMEBIOAN 

leBltsral Animal 

FOR 1868. 



.A. Tear-Book 
FOR EVERY HOME!. 

The second number of this serial is now ready. It contains & 
popular record of horticultural progress during the past year, 
besides valuable articles from 

EMINENT HORTICULTURISTS. 

Among those who contributed to its pages are 



Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, 
Peter Henderson, 
Thomas Meehan, 
Josiah Hoopes, 
Wm S. Carpenter, 
George W. Campbell, 
Doctor Van Ketjren, 



Doctor John A. Warder, 
S. B. Parsons, 
Jas. J. H. Gregory, 
George Such, 
Andrew S. Fuller, 
John Saul, 
James Vice, 



and other well-known pomological and floricultural writers. 

The engravings, which have been prepared expressly for the 
work, are numerous, and make it the 

MOST BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED 

work of its Kind ever published in this or any other country. It 
contains Tables, Lists of Nurserymen, Seedsmen, and Florists, and 
other useful matters of reference. Sent post-paid. Price, fancy 
paper covers, 50 cts ; cloth, 75 cts. 

ORANGE JUDD & CO., 

243 Broadway, New- York 




4=o^ 

[Established In 1343.] 

A Good, Cheap, and very Valuable Paper for^jj/ 
Every Man, Woman and Child, 

IN CITY, VILLAGE and COUNTRY, 

AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 

FOR THE 

FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD, 

Including a Special Department of interesting and 

Instructive Reading for CHILDREN and YOUTH. 

The Agriculturist Is a large periodical of Thirty-two pages, quarto, not octavo, 
beautifully printed, and filled with plain, practical, reliable, original matter, includ- 
ing hundreds of beautiful and instructive Engravings in every annual volume. 

It contains each month a Calendar of Operations to be performed on the Farm, 
la the Orchard and Garden, in and around the Dwelling, etc. 

The thousands of hints and suggestions given in every volume are prepared by prac- 
tical, intelligent -working men, who know what they talk and write about. The 
articles are thoroughly edited, and every way reliable. 

The Household Department Is valuable to every Housekeeper, affording 
very many useful hints and directions calculated to lighten and facilitate in-door work. 

The Department for Children and Yonth, is prepared with special care 
not only to amuse, but also to inculcate knowledge and sound moral principles. 

Terms.— The circulation of the American Agriculturist, (about 150,000) is so 
large that it can be furnished at the low price of $1.50 a year ; four copies, one year, for 
|5; ten copies, one year, for $12; twenty or more copies, one year. $1 each; single 
copies, 15 cents each. An extra copy to the one furnishing a club of ten or twenty. 

TRY IT JL "YEAR,. 

ORANGE JUDD & CO., 

Publishers & Proprietors, 

}no. 245 Broadway, New- York City, 
4>c^- *#=^#» 



